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Macron begins Gulf tour focused on fuel supplies and strategic ties

RFI — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 20:04:46 GMT

French President Emmanuel Macron begins a three-day tour of the Gulf on Monday aimed at securing additional fuel supplies for France while strengthening economic, defence and security ties with four key regional partners.

French President Emmanuel Macron with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha on 7 December 2017. Macron returns to Qatar this week as part of a four-country Gulf tour. © REUTERS/Naseem Zeitoon

On Sunday, Macron's office said he might not leave for the trip and could stay in France to deal with the aftermath of nationwide rioting and looting during protests over poor conditions in schools and rising prices.

But in a TV address to the nation on Sunday night to discuss the violence, Macron confirmed he would depart as scheduled.

"I've taken a number of initiatives on an international level in order to ensure that we have fuel and gas and will continue to do so by visiting the Gulf countries in order to secure our supply," he said during his 10-minute speech.

Macron will visit Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Qatar from 19 to 21 October, with energy security expected to feature prominently as France looks to ease pressure on fuel supplies and prices.

The four-nation visit comes as France seeks to limit the economic fallout from months of instability in the Middle East, while maintaining close ties with Gulf states.

The Elysée Palace said the president would seek commitments for additional deliveries of diesel and petrol that could increase supplies available to France.

“The aim is to secure additional volumes and more supplies for the French people, which will indirectly have an effect on prices,” a presidential adviser said.

Macron will be accompanied by senior executives from TotalEnergies and Engie, France’s two largest energy groups.

France widens fuel aid as unions demand more action on record prices

Securing energy routes

Energy shipments from the Gulf face growing disruption because of instability around two of the world’s most important maritime chokepoints.

The Elysée said Macron would discuss with Gulf leaders how to secure shipping lanes and develop “alternative and bypass routes for liquid hydrocarbons”.

Hydrocarbon deliveries from the region have been badly affected by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz since the crisis between the United States and Iran erupted in February.

Further south, shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait has also been disrupted by the conflict involving Yemen and the Iran-aligned Houthis, adding to concerns over supply routes linking the Gulf and the Red Sea with European markets.

Macron is expected to take stock of the wider regional security situation during talks with the leaders of all four countries, which are exposed to tensions surrounding the US-Iran crisis.

Saudi Arabia, another major Gulf oil producer and a frequent target of Houthi attacks, is not included on the itinerary.

Asked about its absence, the Elysée said Paris and Riyadh remained in “ongoing contact”, noting that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman visited Paris in August.

On Sunday, the French Foreign Ministry said Jean-Noël Barrot, the Foreign Minister, would travel to Riyadh on Sunday evening for talks with his Saudi counterpart, Faisal bin Farhan.

"The minister will reaffirm France’s solidarity with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the face of repeated attacks by the Houthis, as well as its support for the defence of its territory,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Last month, France announced that it was deploying “strictly defensive” military assets to protect the Yanbu site – Saudi Arabia’s main crude oil export terminal on the Red Sea, which has been targeted by the pro-Iranian Houthis – with the aim of bringing down fuel prices.

During his trip, Barrot is expected to visit the French woman injured in a strike on Riyadh airport which left 13 dead and 309 injured on 10 October.

France to send military to protect Saudi Arabia on Red Sea oil route

Business, defence, technology

Beyond energy, Macron will seek to deepen a network of partnerships that Paris has built up across the Gulf in defence, technology, infrastructure and investment.

In Kuwait on Monday morning, talks are expected to focus on cooperation in defence, infrastructure and health.

In the United Arab Emirates, one of France’s closest strategic partners in the region, Macron's office said discussions with Emirati President Mohamed bin Zayed would cover defence and security as well as new technologies and artificial intelligence.

A data centre backed by Emirati capital is currently being developed in France as part of a €50 billion investment agreement between the two countries, reflecting a growing emphasis on technology and AI cooperation.

Economic and defence ties will also be high on the agenda in Qatar and Bahrain.

France has stepped up its military presence in the Middle East this year amid the deterioration in regional security.

In the spring, Paris deployed the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, Rafale fighter jets, a frigate and air defence systems to the region to protect French interests and support allied countries targeted by Iranian retaliation following Israeli and American attacks.

(with newswires)

Macron promises tough punishments for rioters during nationwide day of action

Paul Myers — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 19:46:02 GMT

French President Emmanuel Macron vowed on Sunday to bring the full weight of the justice system down on the rioters who left a trail of destruction in towns and cities throughout France during protests on Saturday over the poor state of schools and the rising cost of living.

French President Emmanuel Macron made a televised address to the nation a day after nationwide protests left a trail of destruction in cities throughout the country. AFP - LUDOVIC MARIN

Nearly 2,400 arrests were made and 997 police and gendarmes were injured during clashes with hooded and masked demonstrators who looted shops and offices.

In eastern France, the Mulhouse prosecutor’s office said an investigation had been opened after a 17-year-old girl was injured during the protests and lost an eye. In Saint-Etienne, south-eastern France, an inquiry was underway into how a 17-year-old had his hand blown off by a grenade thrown by security forces.

"How can we have got here?" Macron asked during his 10-minute address. "There is nothing that justifies it. Nothing that explains it. Nothing that excuses it. We are all feeling anger and shame tonight. To see the streets of our cities ransacked like this is unbearable."

'Punishments in the name of the French people'

Macron said judges would hand out punishments in the name of the French people.

"They know what you [the people] are expecting," he added. "Every time crimes are committed, they need to give rise to legal sanctions. Those who have broken things have to pay and pay back. They will answer for what they have done to the Republic."

Macron's comments followed emergency meetings with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu as well as the Education Minister Édouard Geffray and the Interior Minister Laurent Nunez

He said Lecornu would head a crisis meeting to organise support for the businesses targeted during the waves of rioting.

Raids on town halls

In Marseille, southern France, two dozen protesters broke into the town hall and rampaged through the building smashing statues and furniture.

In Limoges in central France, firefighters battled through the night to extinguish a blaze that effectively reduced the 143-year-old town hall to rubble.

"How can French people do this to France?" said Macron. "Why would the town Hall of Limoges be burned down? The tourist office in Lyon? Why would the town hall in Marseille be invaded or the prefecture in Bordeaux?"

The president hailed the police and emergency workers who were hurt during the day in which 550,000 people took to the streets.

"I want to congratulate our forces of order," said Macron. "They stood strong and did their best. I think of all of the injured officers and their families.

"I want to express my support to all of our mayors and elected representatives. I want to state my support to all of the shopkeepers, artisans and traders who have faced violence and don't know what to do today.

"Some of them tried to defend their shops themselves against these criminals. I want to tell them they will not be on their own facing these difficulties. The government will provide answers."

Gulf trip confirmed

Macron, who confirmed he would leave on Monday for a four-nation tour of the Gulf, insisted the authorities would not confuse the demonstrators with the rioters.

"There are legitimate claims about the cost of living and the price of fuel," he said.

"Many of the reasons for this are in the Persian Gulf War, and France was not a part of it [the war]. But we face the consequences. We share their concern. This concern is shared in many other capitals around Europe.

"I've taken a number of initiatives on an international level in order to ensure that we have fuel and gas and will continue to do so by visiting the Gulf countries in order to secure our supply."

In a conciliatory move, Macron promised to listen to the demands of high school pupils who have gone on strike in demand of more teachers and better conditions in school buildings.

'No future'

"They're saying in some sense that there is no desirable future," said Macron. "We need to listen to what they're saying without making any assumptions or minimising what they're saying.

"We should never confuse the legitimate claims with the violence, but we mustn't let the violence stop the legitimate claims being heard."

He said regional police chiefs would have powers to ban gatherings deemed a danger to shops and buildings.

He also urged all the political parties to issue clear public statements condemning the violence

"The choices for the future that you will have to make in six months are essential choices," he said.

'France is a democratic force'

"France is a major democratic force. Our country deserves a good presidential election," Macron added.

"This is really important and it requires a spirit of responsibility. Yes to dialogue and the preparation of the future. But once again, no to violence in any form. We need to unite, be calm and to respect one another."

Minutes after the end of Macron's speech, Jordan Bardella, the leader of the National Rally, took to social media to lambast the president's effort as deplorable.

French students return to streets despite government bid to ease crisis

"This cowardly and disoriented government has nothing left to say to the French people, nothing left to offer them," Bardella added. "It no longer even has the strength to protect them."

Manuel Bompard, coordinator of LFI (France Unbowed), criticised Macron for failing to offer a concrete response to the demands of the protesters.

“The demands remain tonight,” Bompard told French broadcaster LCI. "On every aspect of the problem, Macron has announced absolutely nothing.

“He spoke without saying anything. It is absolutely irresponsible to speak tonight and say nothing."

Hours before Macron's address, US President Donald Trump linked the unrest to immigration.

“Close your Borders and take control, before it is too late!” he wrote.

Three years on from Kenya's Shakahola cult murders, families still seek closure

Anne Macharia in Nairobi — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 13:47:14 GMT

A court in Mombasa, Kenya, will on Monday deliver a long-awaited verdict in the Shakahola sect murder trial. Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, a self-proclaimed pastor, is accused of forcing church members, including children, to starve themselves to death in order to meet Jesus. Three years after the tragedy, families of the victims are hoping for closure so they can finally mourn their loved ones.

Relatives mourn during the funeral of four members of one family who died in the Shakahola massacre, in Malindi, Kenya, 5 April 2024. © Fredrik Lerneryd / AFP

In March 2023, a man reported to Kenyan police that relatives who had joined a new church had not come home. Authorities began searching the area, around the Shakahola forest, near the coastal town of Malindi – and found hundreds of shallow graves.

While a number of people were also found alive after the alert had been raised, hundreds more remain missing to this day.

Elizabeth Dzidza Mwatsuma’s remains were identified through DNA profiling more than three years after she disappeared into the Shakahola forest.

In May this year, her relative Alice Mwajuma Deche was finally able to bury her.

But Deche, 66, still has 11 more members of her family to find. She lost two children and 10 grandchildren in the massacre.

“We have been through a difficult time. This was not an ordinary event. Losing 12 relatives is hard. But we are grateful that we found one of them," she told RFI.

Francis Wanje, a teacher, found his eight-year-old grandson in the forest on 17 March, 2023 after a distress call from his son.

He was the first survivor to come out of Shakahola. The boy’s two younger siblings had starved to death there.

Wanje’s family lost eight relatives in all, but has only been able to bury four.

Police link new bodies exhumed from Kenyan mass graves to starvation cult

Excavated graves in Shakahola forest, Kenya, 25 April, 2023. © Yasuyoshi Chiba / AFP

Conflicting accounts

Paul Nthenge Mackenzie, leader of the Good News International church, has been charged with 191 counts of murder, manslaughter and terrorism in connection to the Shakahola deaths – charges he denies.

Thirty accomplices are also on trial in the case.

The state argues that the accused acted with a common purpose, and that children who died as a result of fasting could not have consented.

Over the course of the trial, differing accounts of what happened in the Shakahola forest emerged.

Witnesses said some of the accused worked at the site, in the role of village elders, guards, gravediggers and cooks.

One of the accused, Steven Sanga Muye, testified that people lived in Shakahola voluntarily and that fasting instructions came from the Holy Spirit, not Mackenzie.

But Lucas Owino Ogola, another co-accused, said he was forced to fast and was assaulted for refusing.

Steven Ngugi testified in April that he helped dig graves and bury the dead in good faith as a community member, according to a statement from the prosecution office.

He said the deaths were treated as spiritual rather than medical events, and that the group used “weddings” as a coded term for them.

Mackenzie, along with dozens of other suspects, faces charges of manslaughter, terrorism, child cruelty, torture and denial of education in several other cases which have yet to be tried.

Kenyan cult leader faces terrorism charges over mass starvation deaths

Paul Mackenzie, leader of the Good News International Church, appears at Malindi Law Courts in Kenya on 17 January, 2024. © Reuters

Stigma

By October 2023, a Kenyan senate inquiry had recorded 428 bodies exhumed, plus one suspect who died in custody. Later exhumations brought the number of bodies recovered to 446.

Of the 443 bodies and body parts held at the Malindi mortuary, only 34 have been positively identified through DNA matching.

Kilifi County executive committee member for health, Peter Mwarogo, says some families had traced their relatives but declined to collect the remains for cultural reasons.

“Some people were able to trace their relatives, but they refused to come and take the body because of the stigma," he said.

The county has given the families until mid-October to claim remains. Those left unclaimed will be buried through a court-approved process at a site near Shakahola by December, with the graves arranged so the dead can still be identified later.

Kenya’s Interior Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen said the identification process has been slowed by the condition of the remains, and difficulties obtaining DNA reference samples from relatives.

“The biggest problem is not funds. More people need to come out and give their DNA samples for matching."

Kenyan authorities should have prevented cult deaths, president says

Regulating churches

The Commission on Administrative Justice, Kenya’s ombudsman, noted that there was “a gross dereliction of duty” by officials of the National Government Administration and the National Police Service, who ignored warnings about Mackenzie’s activities between 2021 and 2023.

It called the deaths preventable and recommended disciplinary action for six officials.

Elema Halake, chief executive of the Independent Policing Oversight Authority, called the case a multi-agency failure.

The Shakahola tragedy has also opened a debate over how to regulate churches in Kenya without infringing on freedom of religion.

A presidential task force set up in May 2023 handed its report to President William Ruto in July 2024, recommending a separate statute and the re-registration of all religious institutions.

The resulting Religious Organisations Bill also proposed to penalise leaders who extort money through false miracles.

While cabinet approved a draft in July 2025, its application was stalled after the clergy appealed for the bill to be withdrawn.

“The laws are present, we have enough regulatory policies but they are not followed,” says Bishop Francis Omondi of the Anglican Church.

But for task force chairman, Rev Mutava: "Our greatest fear is that if this is not implemented, we are likely to see another Shakahola."

Ebola vaccine trials 'reason for hope' in DR Congo and beyond

RFI — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 11:26:18 GMT

Five months into the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo, there is still no approved vaccine against the rare Bundibugyo strain that has now caused more than 4,000 deaths. But candidates currently undergoing trials give reason to hope, according to Emanuele Capobianco of Gavi, the global vaccine alliance.

A healthcare worker administers a vaccine to a child in the city of Goma on 17 July 2019, during a previous Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. © REUTERS/Olivia Acland

The DRC's worst-ever Ebola outbreak has now passed the 9,000-case mark, with the number of deaths topping 4,000 at the beginning of this month.

Among the many challenges is the lack of any approved vaccines or treatments for the Bundibugyo strain of Ebola that is behind the outbreak.

The first clinical trial of a potential vaccine is expected to begin by the end of October, World Health Organization experts said on Tuesday.

Ervebo, a vaccine already approved for use against the more common Zaire strain of Ebola, will undergo a full-scale human trial in the DRC to see if it offers any cross-protection against Bundibugyo.

Two vaccines specifically for Bundibugyo are also being developed, one by the University of Oxford and another by the US-based Moderna group. They are currently in the early stages of testing in smaller-scale clinical trials.

Capobianco, director of global health security at Gavi, told RFI they have the potential to save lives in this and future Ebola outbreaks.

RFI: What can you tell us about the development of a potential Bundibugyo vaccine?

Emanuele Capobianco: There is currently no approved vaccine specifically for this virus. However, several candidates are in development, which offers reason for hope.

Two are leading the way: one from the University of Oxford – developed with partners including the Serum Institute of India – and the one from Moderna, which uses messenger RNA (mRNA) technology. They rely on different platforms, but both target the Bundibugyo virus.

We are expecting the results of their phase 1 trials later in October. They will provide data on their safety and their ability to stimulate the immune system.

If the results are positive, phase 2 and 3 trials may begin on larger populations. These will last several months and will make it possible to evaluate their efficacy. If all goes well, a rollout could take place in the first half of 2027.

At the onset of the outbreak, Gavi mobilised $50 million (€44 million) to support the response, including access to vaccines. We are investing ahead of final results so that doses can be made available as soon as their efficacy is proven and their use is authorised.

Violence against healthcare workers in DRC hampers Ebola response

RFI: In the meantime, could the existing Ervebo vaccine help?

EC: Ervebo is approved for use against the Zaire strain of Ebola. It is safe and highly effective against this virus, but its protection against Bundibugyo has not been established.

The global stockpile contains approximately 500,000 doses of Ervebo. If it is demonstrated to be effective against Bundibugyo, we will therefore have a tool that could be deployed rapidly.

At the request of the Congolese government, 70,000 doses were released in August from the global stockpile funded by Gavi. A portion is being used for studies. Healthcare workers are also being vaccinated as part of a research protocol: they are protected against the Zaire strain, and monitoring them will make it possible to study whether this also provides protection against Bundibugyo.

A child looks at Ebola awareness posters displayed on the Ebola Treatment Centre in Munigi, DRC, on 2 June 2026. © AFP - JOSPIN MWISHA

RFI: What can be done before the vaccines arrive?

Ebola outbreaks have previously been contained without vaccination or specific treatment, through infection prevention, surveillance and early care. This outbreak, too, could be contained before the arrival of new vaccines.

Because of the security situation, the system is unable to detect cases early on, so we don't have have a strong surveillance system. We can't detect where the patients are, or support them as fast as required.

Seventy percent of deaths occur in communities, before patients even arrive in health facilities. A huge effort is needed to encourage people to go to health centres. We also need for health centres to get closer to people to provide the kind of support that will result in patients surviving.

By intervening early, you can reduce the number of infections from a single case. So there's a lot of work that can be done in this area.

Ebola outbreak spreads in DRC as misinformation hampers response

RFI: How can you convince people to get vaccinated, when the vaccine they got during a previous outbreak does not necessarily protect them against the current one?

First, a vaccine with proven safety and efficacy has to be available. Beyond that, healthcare workers are essential allies. They set an example and explain the benefits. Having well-informed, empathetic health professionals is a crucial first step.

Radio and television also have a role to play. However, direct, personal interaction is vital. It is important to engage with respected figures within communities – such as religious leaders, teachers and elders – who are not necessarily political figures.

These trusted individuals play a vital role in bridging what I call the final distance – the gap between the syringe and the arm. Even when the vaccine is available, administering it hinges on trust. And trust is hard to build, easy to lose.

RFI: These new vaccines may not be available until after this outbreak is over. Will the current research help regardless?

We are running a marathon. We have already covered several kilometres by nearing the end of the phase 1 trials. The results may prove useful for the current outbreak, but we must also look further ahead.

If we secure an effective vaccine against Bundibugyo, we will be able to build a global stockpile, just as Gavi did for the Zaire strain. We will then have doses available for future epidemics – not only in the DRC but in other countries too.

This article is based on an interview by RFI's Christina Okello and has been lightly edited for clarity.

Poison and remedy: secrets of the botanic garden at Paris's Pharmacy Faculty

RFI — Sun, 18 Oct 2026 07:59:39 GMT

Paris – A stone's throw from the Jardin du Luxembourg on Paris's Left Bank, the Faculty of Pharmacy is home to a botanical garden which serves as an educational resource for students and a space for research – as well as a place where visitors can find biodiversity in the heart of the city.

The garden at the Faculty of Pharmacy in central Paris, with its tropical greenhouse, has become part of the fabric of the neighbourhood. © Olivier Favier / RFI

Accessed by passing between majestic buildings designed in the late 19th century by famed architect Charles Laisné – as well as others added during the 1960s – the botanical garden covers nearly 3,500 square metres.

In the warmer months, students eat lunch at picnic tables in the shadow of the laboratory building, recognisable by its dozens of chimneys.

“When they start their pharmacy studies, the students are welcomed into the garden,” says lecturer and researcher Florence Chapeland-Leclerc. “From their second session with us, they work in the lab with samples cut on site.”

Heated debate over herbalism

Relations between the pharmacy and herbalism sectors have long been fraught.

France stopped issuing herbalist certification in 1941, and specialist shops have become increasingly rare – and are no longer permitted to recommend any particular plant for therapeutic purposes.

While the debate remains heated between those who fear the revival of alternative medicine with no scientific basis and those who regret the loss of traditional knowledge, the Faculty of Pharmacy – part of Paris Cité University – draws on both practices.

Here, a bachelor’s diploma in herbal medicine is awarded, aimed primarily at pharmacy assistants seeking to add another string to their bow, and also frequently at those looking to change careers.

“The term ‘phytotherapist’ is in itself a misnomer. A pharmacist does not, in fact, have the status of a therapist,” points out Raphaël Grougnet, a lecturer and researcher specialising in pharmacognosy – an applied science which studies medicinal substances of natural origin, whether they come from plants, animals, fungi or micro-organisms.

However, knowledge of plants and fungi is also an integral part of the training of community pharmacists, which culminates in a practical doctorate after five years of study, in addition to the foundation year common to many professions in the medical sector, including doctors, physiotherapists and dentists.

By their second year, a pharmacy student must be able to identify 120 plant species.

“These are the source of many medicines,” explains Grougnet. “Willow bark was known for its anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and analgesic properties [reducing fever and pain]. Aspirin was derived from it.”

Psychedelic therapy gains ground in Europe, under strict conditions

Dangerous mistakes

In the garden, the beds are organised in two ways. The first corresponds to what is known as botanical systematics – the classification into families, genera and species established by Swedish botanist and physician Carl von Linné and subsequently revolutionised by Charles Darwin.

The second method classifies plants according to their toxicity. While some plants are toxic at any dosage, others contain substances which, at certain doses, can be used medicinally.

The botanic garden's greenhouses – designed by Gustave Eiffel’s workshops and faithfully restored between 2000 and 2002 – are dedicated to tropical species.

The garden is an integral part of the neighbourhood’s heritage, and the interest shown by its neighbours – who regularly appear at the gates to watch plants being pruned – also reflects a renewed appreciation for plants, says Chapeland-Leclerc.

Yet this interest, where knowledge is lacking, can lead to some dangerous mix-ups.

“A common mistake is confusing wild garlic with lily of the valley, which is toxic to the heart, or saffron-coloured oenanthe with wild parsnip,” she explains.

From ornitherapy to kissing trees, how can nature benefit human health?

If in doubt, consulting a pharmacist can help avoid mistakes that have serious consequences.

Chapeland-Leclerc said that while increasingly popular plant identification apps are fairly reliable, those for mushrooms remain inaccurate and should under no circumstances be trusted to classify which specimens are safe to consume.

French pharmacies commonly offer to check the safety of foraged mushrooms – but Chapeland-Leclerc stressed that if you take yours to your local chemist, it's important to bring your entire haul.

“Pharmacists still have a naturalist side to them that we might not necessarily realise,” she smiles.

This article was adapted from the original version in French by Olivier Favier.

AI midwife seeks to fill gaps in Zimbabwe's maternal health care

Farai Shawn Matiashe — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 13:44:39 GMT

Mutare, Zimbabwe – With public health services stretched thin, women in Zimbabwe sometimes struggle to access reliable information about pregnancy and childbirth. A locally developed app aims to answer their questions and direct them to appropriate care, in an example of the potential of artificial intelligence to ease pressure on overloaded health systems.

A pregnant woman in Zimbabwe looks at her phone to get pregnancy-related information from a WhatsApp chatbot known as DawaMom. © Farai Shawn Matiashe

When Harare resident Samantha Murungweni found out she was pregnant for the first time earlier this year, she felt scared.

The 25-year-old, who lives in Greendale, one of the capital's suburbs, wasn't able to ask midwives all the questions she had when she registered for antenatal care at her local clinic. Zimbabwe’s public healthcare facilities often have lengthy queues.

Murungweni sought help from friends and social media – but she struggled to get reliable information.

Then a friend introduced her to DawaMom, an AI-powered chatbot designed to provide pregnancy-related information.

“I asked about food that would keep both of us healthy,” Murungweni, who started using the service in her second trimester, told RFI.

“I also asked about back pain, frequent urination and foetus movements in the uterus. It felt like I was talking to a real midwife.”

Easy access

Developed in 2024 by DawaHealth, a Zambia-based startup, DawaMom gives pregnant women and mothers validated medical information and connects them with licensed health workers via WhatsApp.

While accessing the chatbot is free, users must pay a subscription fee for more advanced services such as personalised monitoring or home visits.

Tafadzwa Kalisto Munzwa, DawaHealth co-founder and chief executive officer, said they chose WhatsApp because millions of people across Southern Africa already use the platform to communicate with their families and access information directly from their smartphones.

“Google is not accessible to everyone because internet data is expensive, but most people still keep a WhatsApp data bundle,” he told RFI.

A screenshot of a conversation with DawaMom, a WhatsApp chatbot which provides pregnancy-related information for women in Zimbabwe. © Farai Shawn Matiashe

Developers also sought to make the service more reliable than a traditional internet search.

To ensure medical information is accurate and relevant to the local context, DawaMom does not generate answers from general content on the internet. Instead, it uses a technique known as retrieval-augmented generation to provide responses based exclusively on a verified database.

Munzwa said the team compiled information from dozens of medical sources – including Health Ministry guidelines, World Health Organization recommendations, medical school curricula and hospital protocols on women’s health – to create an authoritative knowledge base.

“More than 25 health workers translated and validated this content into Shona, Ndebele and Tonga. Every answer DawaMom gives is drawn from this database,” he said.

Adapting the service to Zimbabwe’s multilingual context was also part of establishing trust.

“This year we also worked with more than 30 women from across Zimbabwe to build an English-Shona code-switching dataset,” said Munzwa. “This lets DawaMom understand the way people actually speak, mixing English and Shona, and reply by voice in a Shona accent that users find natural and understandable.”

According to the company, DawaMom has supported over 20,000 users to date. They are targeting 50,000 users by the end of 2026.

Stigma and sisterhood: how one Kenyan woman knitted a healthcare revolution

Reducing pressure on health workers

With a lack of funding in the health sector and mass migration of skilled professionals abroad, Zimbabwe faces severe shortages of health workers.

Nurses and doctors handle heavy workloads, especially in rural areas. Zimbabwe had just over 22 health workers per 10,000 people in 2022, less than half the World Health Organization’s recommended 45 per 10,000, according to an analysis by the WHO and Ministry of Health.

Elijah Dakwa, president of the Zimbabwe Medical Analytics and Informatics Network (ZiMAIN), which brings together medical professionals, researchers, data scientists and technology experts, says artificial intelligence can help ease the pressure on the country’s health workers – but only if it is used to support them rather than replace them.

“Clinicians we have can focus on the high‑risk cases instead of being swamped by low‑acuity visits,” he told RFI.

Dakwa says building robust digital infrastructure, improving connectivity, making devices widely available and providing training are key to the adoption of AI in the health sector.

“When that is in place, AI acts as a force multiplier: faster, more consistent, clearer decision-support systems for health workers and fewer unnecessary trips to central hospitals, which ultimately reduces congestion and workload across the system.”

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

Identifying high-risk patients

According to Munzwa of DawaHealth, AI can act as a triage filter, identifying women who need urgent or in-person follow-up and those who can be reassured at home without visiting a clinic.

“This means high-risk patients are less likely to be missed and are prioritised for follow-up, so limited staff and resources have more impact,” he said.

DawaMom connects pregnant women and mothers with licensed healthcare facilities and automatically identifies high-risk women, enabling the company to follow up with those who need additional care.

Rutendo, from Rusape in eastern Zimbabwe, used the chatbot to learn about numbness and spotting in the first trimester of her pregnancy.

But one day, when she was in her final trimester, she became alarmed after going for days without feeling any movement from the foetus.

Why the African continent has a role to play in developing AI

Rutendo consulted DawaMom and the chatbot advised her to see a doctor immediately.

She hurried to the nearby clinic where she was registered for antenatal care, but it was too late. The foetus had died after becoming tangled in the umbilical cord, a situation that can also lead to dangerous complications for the mother.

“The information I got saved my life,” said 31-year-old Rutendo, who asked RFI not to use her full name.

In Harare, Murungweni gave birth to a girl last month. DawaMom eased her fears about becoming a mother.

“It helped me navigate pregnancy and gave me access to accurate medical information I was struggling to get elsewhere,” she said.

Shipping attacks threaten Turkey's resolve to keep warships out of Black Sea

Dorian Jones — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 11:43:59 GMT

A wave of deadly attacks on cargo ships in the waters of NATO members Bulgaria and Romania has jolted the alliance into calling an emergency meeting on Black Sea security. Yet any move to send NATO ships hinges on Turkey reversing its steadfast refusal to allow warships into the Black Sea.

A cargo ship that was attacked in the Black Sea is escorted by a coastguard boat as it returns through the Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey, on 1 September 2026. © Murad Sezer / Reuters

Thursday saw two chemical tankers struck by drones close to a Romanian port.

It follows two similar attacks in Bulgarian waters in the past week. More than 20 sailors have been killed or remain missing.

“The war has come in full force to the Black Sea now,” said Yoruk Isik, a maritime analyst who runs the Istanbul-based Bosphorus Observer consultancy. “With the change in technology compared to the beginning of the war, drones really disrupted maritime traffic.”

According to Isik, the latest attacks underscore the growing spread of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. “Russian ports and Ukrainian ports are heavily targeted, but now even in NATO waters ships are getting hit, in Bulgarian waters, Romanian waters.

“We are at a point where there is no safe place.”

The latest strikes targeted vessels along a key Ukrainian shipping route, casting Russia as NATO’s prime suspect as Moscow intensifies its assault on Ukrainian trade.

After meeting on Thursday with the leaders of Bulgaria and Romania, both NATO members, Secretary-General Mark Rutte said the military alliance would “continue to work closely with our allies in the Black Sea, adjusting our deterrence and defence posture as needed”.

Romanian President Nicușor Dan said NATO would hold a crisis meeting next week to discuss the situation.

Gatekeeper to the Black Sea

NATO could deploy air defence systems against drones to protect Bulgarian and Romanian waters.

But any deployment of naval ships will depend on NATO member Turkey, which controls access to the Black Sea through the Turkish Straits under a long-standing international treaty, the 1936 Montreux Convention.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Ankara has blocked entry of Russian and Ukrainian warships or military vessels belonging to NATO members without a Black Sea coast, arguing for a diplomatic solution.

In recent weeks the Turkish government has sought to broker a ceasefire on commercial shipping, without success. Isik claims that failure, coupled with the latest escalation in attacks, is increasingly calling into question Ankara’s reliance on diplomacy alone.

“Either they’re going to have a breakthrough and the Kremlin is going to de-escalate, or Ankara is going to accept the reality that there needs to be a more credible force here – bigger vessels have to come,” the analyst said.

He pointed out that the navies of Romania and Bulgaria are not equipped to handle such an operation alone, with Cold War-era ships nearing the end of their lifespan.

“So Turkey's engagement is key to any successful NATO planning in the Black Sea.”

Russian leverage

Despite Turkish-owned cargo ships coming under attack in recent weeks, and Turkey’s deep reliance on Black Sea trade, Ankara has so far kept its powerful navy on the sidelines.

International relations expert Huseyin Bagci, of Ankara’s Middle East Technical University, says Turkey fears an escalation in the conflict and will be wary of allowing NATO ships into the Black Sea.

“I do not think the government would dare,” said Bagci. “Probably the government considers this a provocation to drag Turkey into the war... Turkey is afraid of getting involved in the Black Sea against Russia, this is somehow a trauma in the Turkish mind.”

Moscow also retains powerful leverage over Ankara, he suggested.

Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom is about to complete a multi-billion-dollar nuclear power station in Akkuyu, southern Turkey. Ankara sees it as vital to the drive to reduce its heavy dependence on imported energy. “It is illogical to oppose Russia now while you let the Russians complete the nuclear plant,” said Bagci.

Erdogan hints at larger nuclear partnership with Russia, unsettling Turkey's allies

Ankara also knows that letting NATO vessels in while barring Russian warships could provoke Moscow into contesting Turkey’s prized status as the gatekeeper to the Black Sea.

However, retired Turkish diplomat Selim Kuneralp, an expert on the Montreux Convention, warns Turkey’s control over Black Sea access is likely already in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s sights.

“This has probably had an impact on Russia’s ability to conduct the war, and I doubt that Putin is very happy with the situation,” said Kuneralp. “So if he were to win the war, there is a very strong risk that he will take the initiative of saying: ‘this is unacceptable and we want to have free passage of warships from now on, regardless of whether there is a war’.”

As a signatory, Moscow has the right to call for a revision of the Montreux Convention every five years.

For centuries, Russia fought repeated wars with the then Ottoman Empire for control of the Turkish Straits. In the early years of the Cold War, even Joseph Stalin tried his hand, but the United States intervened and thwarted him.

Now Ankara walks a tightrope between Moscow and its NATO partners to avoid a resurrection of those historical rivalries.

Zelensky says US move to waive sanctions 'rewards' Russia's Putin

RFI — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 11:11:39 GMT

Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky on Saturday hit out at the decision of the US President Donald Trump to block sanctions on Russia claiming the move rewarded the country's leader Vladimir Putin.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky criticised a decision of the US President Donald Trump to block sanctions on Russia. © Володимир Зеленський / Facebook

Trump signed an executive order that waived US sanctions aimed at reducing the money Russia receives from the sale of its oil and gas.

The move came despite Russia increasing strikes on Ukraine and days before the measures were to take effect under a law Trump signed last month.

Trump said the waiver was in the national interests of the US.

Targeting Russia's oil and gas sectors

The Lindsey Graham Act – named after the deceased US senator who sponsored the bill – targeted Russia's energy and defence sectors, as well as Putin and the so-called "shadow fleet" of tankers used by Moscow to circumvent Western sanctions.

"It is important that everyone in America also sees what is really happening," Zelensky wrote on social media after he said that Russian forces had attacked 15 critical power generation facilities across Ukraine.

"A US sanctions blackout, easing pressure on the aggressor, financial rewards for Putin – all of this only encourages him to keep attacking," he warned.

Russia hails Trump move as 'historic'

The Kremlin and Putin have not yet officially reacted but several Russian officials celebrated the Trump's move.

"The Trump administration's suspension of the Graham Act is an important and truly historic moment," Kirill Dmitriev, a Putin envoy, said on social media.

Dmitriev said the act would have caused serious damage first and foremost to the US economy and global markets.

Trump's waiver comes after he struck a deal with Putin to ease existing sanctions on Russia in exchange for Moscow releasing large amounts of diesel onto global markets.

US-led talks to end the war in Ukraine have not brought a breakthrough. Both Putin and Zelensky have frustrated Trump in the past with a lack of progress in halting a conflict which started in February 2022.

Zelensky had rallied his allies Friday during a visit to Brussels for a European Union summit.

He urged them to keep financing Ukraine's fight and insisted he was standing up for his country amid the row with Trump.

"This is no time to withdraw the support to Ukraine," said European Council chief Antonio Costa.

"Now it is time to increase our support, to increase our pressure."

Putin vows more

Ukraine has been struggling to shoot down Russian missiles and has been left scrambling to boost its defences.

Russia controls large swathes of eastern and southern Ukraine and Putin has repeatedly said Moscow intends to seize the rest of east Ukraine by force.

"On the whole I see a positive trend in the operations of the troop groupings," Putin told army leaders on Friday.

"Undoubtedly, one of the main objectives remains the liberation of the Donetsk People's Republic," he added, using the Kremlin's name for the eastern Donetsk region.

(With newswires)

France's new sexual violence bill 'fails to tackle root causes', campaigners warn

RFI — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 10:17:12 GMT

A sweeping package of reforms, passed unanimously by the lower house of parliament this week, aims to overhaul how France investigates and prosecutes sexual violence. Yet campaigners say the legislation does not do enough to prevent abuse, while protection for some of the most vulnerable victims is lacking.

Protesters gather outside the Justice Ministry in Paris on 29 June to demand comprehensive legislation against sexual violence against women and children. © AFP - JULIE SEBADELHA

The so-called comprehensive bill against sexual and gender-based violence, adopted by the National Assembly on Tuesday, is now headed for a vote in the French Senate.

Legislators have been under pressure to act since the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl exposed shortcomings in France's justice system.

The victim went missing in south-west France at the end of May. The man suspected of killing her had previously faced several complaints of sexual violence against underage girls, but those investigations stalled or were dropped.

The case prompted weekly demonstrations outside the Justice Ministry and pushed reform back on to the government's agenda.

Legislation first proposed at the end of last year was prioritised for debate when parliament resumed after the summer. Modelled on Spain's pioneering 2004 law on gender-based violence, it aims to coordinate prevention, investigation, prosecution and victim protection in one joined-up approach.

"It is the first time we are getting a comprehensive response to the issue of gender-based and sexual violence in this country, notably with measures that will finally adapt the justice system to the specific nature of this violence," said Laura Slimani, project director at the Fondation des Femmes, a women's group that has been campaigning for reform for several years.

French National Assembly moves to overhaul response to sexual violence and abuse

Steps forward

Many of the bill's provisions were taken directly from campaigners, and activists hailed them as a historic step forward.

If it becomes law, investigating and prosecuting sexual and domestic violence will be put in the hands of people who specialise in such cases, with courts required to have at least two expert judges and prosecutors, and police ordered to create specially trained units.

Officers would also have to carry out a minimum set of investigative steps within a year to reduce the risk of complaints being dropped without proper investigation.

"At present, a huge number of complaints are dismissed because the offences aren't sufficiently substantiated," Slimani told RFI. "But very often we learn that there hasn't been an investigation: the suspect hasn't been interviewed, nor have their relatives, their phone and computer haven't been searched... All of this will now be mandatory."

Other proposals welcomed by feminist organisations and child protection advocates include barring police from investigating a victim's sexual history, widening the legal definition of incest to include sexual relations between first cousins, and recognising economic abuse as a form of domestic violence.

France’s ongoing struggle to protect child victims of domestic violence

Vulnerable groups overlooked

But some organisations working with victims say the bill fails vulnerable groups.

"Women with disabilities, foreign women and LGBTI people – all of whom are highly vulnerable to violence – are largely overlooked in this text," organisations including Médecins du Monde and Inter LGBT said in a joint statement last month, accusing lawmakers of rushing through the bill without consulting a diverse range of stakeholders.

The proposed text had included measures to protect foreign victims of sexual violence, notably prohibiting authorities from ordering a victim who had filed a complaint to leave France – for example, if they are undocumented or if their residence permit was obtained through the partner they allege is their abuser – and guaranteeing such victims a two-year residency permit with the right to work.

But MPs on both the right and the centre pushed to remove these, with the Minister for Gender Equality, Aurore Bergé, saying they risked being exploited by people "who we should be able to send back home".

Cimade, a French charity that works with migrants, says victims of violence often find themselves forced to choose between staying with their abuser or losing their immigration status.

"Nearly 70 percent of women Cimade assists at its specialist support centres lose their residence permits when they leave an abusive partner because their right to stay is tied to the relationship," the organisation said in a statement.

Migrant women in France face ‘double violence’ when reporting sexual abuse

Punishment or prevention

Other activists question the premise of the bill itself.

"This bill does nothing to tackle the root causes of gender-based violence," said Emmanuelle, a member of the #NousToutes feminist collective.

She told RFI the bill focused heavily on criminal penalties, with few measures aimed at preventing violence. "The main tool is, first and foremost, education on emotional, relational and sexual matters for all children."

While at least three comprehensive sexuality education sessions a year have been mandatory in French schools since 2025, schools do not have the resources to implement the programme in full, she said.

"As far as we're concerned, legislation is not the right solution. We should start by applying the legislation we have by providing the resources necessary."

The activist pointed to multiplying closures of branches of Planning Familial, the French family planning organisation. "Their staff and volunteers are the ones who deliver emotional wellbeing education sessions in schools. They are the ones who train professionals in the police, the justice system and hospitals."

Growing 'masculinist' culture in France slows down fight against sexism

It remains unclear what funding will be allocated to enact the planned reforms. Implementing the bill fully has been estimated to cost at least €3 billion on top of current spending.

Writing in Le Monde, Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu promised the government would propose "an initial allocation of nearly €1.5 billion to combat gender-based and sexual violence", as well as €2.6 billion earmarked for child protection.

However, his office subsequently told the newspaper that the figures did not represent additional funding, but the total already allocated.

This article was partially adapted from this story by RFI's French service by Amélie Beaucour.

Pacific nations await climate billions, as fossil fuel divide looms over Cop31

Amanda Morrow — Sat, 17 Oct 2026 07:32:20 GMT

Ahead of next month’s United Nations Cop31 climate summit, as a strengthening El Niño drives Pacific sea temperatures towards record levels, more than $5 billion promised to the region remains unpaid. Cop31 co-hosts Turkey and Australia are pushing to speed up the switch to electric transport, heating and industry, but participating countries are divided over how to wind down the use of coal, oil and gas.

An aerial view of Funafuti, Tuvalu, on 6 September 2024. Rising seas threaten to make much of the Pacific country uninhabitable, while a divide over fossil fuels persists ahead of Cop31 in Turkey. REUTERS - Kirsty Needham

Cop31 will run from 9-20 November in the Turkish resort city of Antalya. In a compromise that ended their rival bids to host, Turkish Environment Minister Murat Kurum will hold the presidency, while his Australian counterpart for climate and energy, Chris Bowen, will lead the negotiations.

Pacific countries had an opportunity to stress their priorities at last week’s lead-up meeting in Fiji, known as Pre-Cop. Around 4,000 people from more than 100 countries attended, with limiting global warming and getting climate money to vulnerable communities central to the discussions.

Leaders also travelled to Tuvalu, a low-lying Pacific atoll state, where rising seas threaten to make much of the country uninhabitable.

“Tuvalu has made no contribution to this crisis, but unfortunately, they are faced with the threat,” Kurum told reporters in Fiji. “They are faced with an existential crisis, and they are paying the heaviest price.”

Locked in Arctic ice, the floating lab studying climate and wildlife

Hotter seas, higher stakes

El Niño, a natural warming of the tropical Pacific that changes weather patterns worldwide, is forecast to peak in December – with heat, drought and flood risks increasing in different regions.

Sea temperatures in a key stretch of the Pacific near the equator are forecast to average around 3.7C above average from October to December, a record for the El Niño index, the World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) last week warned.

The event releases heat stored beneath the ocean surface, helping make strong El Niño years unusually hot. “The ocean it's drawing from is the warmest we've ever measured it,” WMO secretary-general Celeste Saulo told this month's Global Heat Forum in Bangkok.

El Niño returns every few years, but this event is adding to long-term warming already approaching the goals of the Paris Agreement, which commits countries to strive to limit warming to 1.5C.

That threshold is projected to be breached in the early 2030s, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has said. Every additional fraction of a degree increases the risks, making rapid emissions cuts essential to limiting the damage.

A farmer tends crops during prolonged dry conditions in Coatepeque, El Salvador, on 1 September 2026. The country declared a national emergency on 7 October over the effects of El Nino. REUTERS - Jose Cabezas

The missing billions

Of the more than US$16 billion in climate finance committed to Pacific countries since the Paris Agreement was adopted in 2015, more than US$5 billion is yet to be paid out, Pre-Cop organisers warned.

“We need adaptation finance to reach the communities that are already experiencing the impacts of climate change,” Lenora Qereqeretabua, Fiji’s assistant foreign minister, told reporters.

While adaptation helps people prepare for and cope with floods, drought and rising seas, getting the money to the communities that need it can be a slow and complex process.

Australia used the Pre-Cop to launch a plan aimed at simplifying access to climate finance and getting funds moving faster, with other countries and development banks invited to sign up.

That backlog is separate from a far larger target agreed at Cop29 in Baku in 2024 to mobilise at least US$300 billion a year for developing countries, including Pacific nations, by 2035.

EU finance ministers reaffirmed that goal on Friday, backed efforts to triple adaptation finance by the same deadline and urged other countries with the means to contribute.

But a separate draft EU strategy says there is “no scope” for new climate funding commitments at Cop31. Drawn up by Ireland, which holds the bloc’s rotating presidency, it focuses instead on emissions cuts and putting existing pledges into practice.

Climate support should arrive reliably and mainly through grants rather than loans, the aid group CARE International said in its Cop31 policy paper. Wealthy countries also need to explain how they will deliver the promised US$300 billion a year by 2035.

Niue, the tiny island selling the sea to save it from destruction

Fossil fuel fault line

Brazil, which hosted last year's Cop30, is preparing a roadmap for the transition away from fossil fuels outside the formal talks. How to take that plan forward will fall to the hosts of the November summit.

A voluntary target to raise electricity’s share of global energy use from around 20 percent to 35 percent by 2035 is a priority.

Electrification means swapping petrol cars, gas boilers and other fossil-fuelled technology for electric alternatives. But the target does not say how the extra power should be produced, and switching to electricity only cuts emissions if that power comes mainly from renewables.

“If you electrify and you increase coal, then what are you doing?” Alden Meyer, an analyst at the climate policy think tank E3G said at the mid-year UN climate talks in Bonn.

In Turkey, wind and solar supplied 22 percent of electricity in 2025, up from 12 percent in 2020, Climate Action Tracker, an independent research project, found. Fossil fuels still generated 56 percent, and power-sector emissions hit a record high.

Australia, which will lead the negotiations, meanwhile faces scrutiny over its coal exports.

On Wednesday, the country’s High Court dismissed an appeal by mining company MACH Energy, blocking approval for an expansion of its Mount Pleasant mine in New South Wales.

Planners had failed to consider conditions to minimise emissions from coal burned overseas, the court found.

A coal-fired power station beside the Ohio River near New Haven, West Virginia. Cop31 co-hosts Turkey and Australia are promoting electrification, but its climate benefits depend on how the power is generated. AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster - Carolyn Kaster

Ocean beyond the margins

For Pacific countries, the fossil fuel debate is inseparable from the health of the ocean.

Around a quarter of the carbon dioxide released by human activity and more than 90 percent of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases have been absorbed by the ocean, Fiji’s lands and mineral resources minister Filimoni Vosarogo reminded the Pre-Cop.

That has come at a cost to ocean health, with warming waters and increasing acidity. Pacific nations used the meeting to press for the ocean to be given a bigger place in UN climate negotiations.

“So, the resounding message from the Pacific Pre-Cop should be that never again should Mother Ocean, the planet's primary climate regulator, be consigned to the back rows of deliberations,” said Peter Thomson, the UN secretary-general’s special envoy for the ocean.

Ocean warming, acidification and sea level rise are recognised in the Taku Pakasoa Declaration adopted by leaders last week. Tuvalu has invited other countries to endorse it before the Antalya summit.

Turkey has also promised to work towards an Antalya Ocean Declaration recognising the ocean’s vital role in regulating the planet’s climate.

Madagascar marks one year since uprising as Russia’s influence grows

RFI — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 16:02:39 GMT

Madagascar marks one year on Saturday since military leader Michael Randrianirina took power following weeks of youth-led protests that brought down elected president Andry Rajoelina. Over the past year, Russian influence has grown through closer military ties and weapons deliveries, while researchers have identified Moscow’s interest in a strategic Indian Ocean port. Many of the political reforms demanded by protesters, however, remain unfinished.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, shakes hands with Madagascar’s President Michaël Randrianirina during a meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on 19 February 2026, as ties between the two countries deepen. AP - Alexander Zemlianichenko

Randrianirina was sworn in as president of the Refoundation of Madagascar on 17 October 2025, after a month of Gen Z protests demanding water, electricity, justice and transparency culminated in the ousting of Rajoelina.

Russia was quick to engage with the new leadership. Just four days after taking office, Randrianirina met the Russian ambassador in the Malagasy capital, Antananarivo.

What followed was a rapid expansion of Moscow’s presence on the island, researchers say.

An investigation published last month by All Eyes On Wagner, a project that tracks Russian influence and security operations, traced the development of military, political and economic networks in Madagascar in the months after Randrianirina’s inauguration.

“Madagascar has historical ties with Russia,” explained Lou Osborn, co-author of the report.

“And Russia has had a discreet foothold on the island since the 2018 elections. But what is very striking is the speed with which the GRU [Russian military intelligence] has extended its networks in the country, through Africa Corps, African Initiative and various other activities.”

A year after Madagascar's Gen Z protests and Rajoelina’s ouster, little promised change

A lightning offensive

The Russian presence soon became more concrete.

On 20 December 2025, two months after Randrianirina took office, a flight carrying 40 men led by Russian intelligence general Andrey Averyanov landed in Madagascar.

The investigation cites information collected by the Russian investigative unit of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. Averyanov is described by the researchers as the suspected supervisor of Africa Corps, the Russian paramilitary organisation that succeeded the Wagner group.

Malagasy authorities confirmed that same month that Africa Corps instructors were in the country training its military.

Then came the equipment. Helicopters, tanks, trucks, drones and rifles arrived in multiple shipments presented as donations, with deliveries continuing until April, the researchers said.

Averyanov also appeared at increasingly senior levels of the relationship.

In February, he was seen at a meeting in Moscow between Russia’s deputy prime minister and Madagascar’s armed forces minister. Two weeks later, he was part of the delegation that welcomed Randrianirina on an official visit to the Russian capital.

Madagascar's President Michael Randrianirina at the Kremlin on 19 February 2026. © ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO / AFP

The push has gone beyond military cooperation. Alongside Africa Corps, the researchers point to African Initiative, a Russian news agency with links to the state, as a key part of Moscow’s influence campaign in Madagascar.

The agency has sought to reach young people through prizes and sporting events. It has also supported local media in exchange for coverage of Russian-Malagasy relations and organised trips to Moscow for media figures and influencers.

Madagascar's wave of disappearances exposes 'deeper institutional failings'

Influence at the top

Russia has also developed ties with senior Malagasy figures, including members of the political establishment who have remained influential despite last year’s change of power, the investigation found.

“We are seeing figures from the old guard return,” Osborn said. “These people have gained influence. And for some of them there is a kind of opportunism in playing the Russian card.”

Among them is National Assembly speaker Siteny Randrianasoloniaiko, whom the investigation identifies as Moscow’s most prominent supporter in Madagascar.

His connections with Russia have been fostered through his role as president of the African Judo Union. He confirmed the arrival of Africa Corps personnel and has spoken frequently about cooperation between the two countries.

Prime Minister Mamitiana Rajaonarison is also described as pro-Russian. A former head of Samifin, Madagascar’s financial intelligence unit, he was involved in negotiations with Sber, Russia’s main bank, which is under international sanctions, the investigation said.

Ny Hasina Andriamanjato, meanwhile, is a Russian-speaking former foreign minister whom the investigation places in former president Rajoelina’s circle. He was appointed Madagascar’s ambassador to Russia in May.

Madagascar charts new course with France, after meeting Putin in Moscow

Gateway to the Indian Ocean

Sitting at the entrance to the Mozambique Channel, Madagascar offers access to shipping routes linking southern Africa, the Middle East and the Indian Ocean.

“Madagascar can give the Russians a sought-after access point to the Indian Ocean,” Osborn said. “Potential access for their shadow fleet [of ships used to evade Western sanctions].”

Much of the attention has centred on the port of Antsiranana, also known as Diego-Suarez, at Madagascar’s northern tip. A Russian delegation visited in April, and the following month Madagascar and Russia announced a joint economic zone, with fuel storage as its first project.

The port of Diego-Suarez in the north of Madagascar. © Getty Images/kacege photography

The authors of the investigation say the port’s potential goes much further. They compare Diego-Suarez with Tartus, Russia’s naval base in Syria, arguing that its location could eventually make it a major military and economic logistics hub.

But the interest is not only military. “They are building a logistics platform and an information platform in Madagascar, but also setting up financial infrastructure, which is developing as in Togo, with the A7 system,” Osborn said.

A7 is a Russian cross-border payments network designed to allow international transactions outside conventional Western banking channels. The investigation says such a system could be used in Madagascar to finance arms deliveries, economic projects, security services and other areas of Russian cooperation.

Osborn sees a pattern in which Africa Corps and Russian military intelligence establish a foothold first, with the financial infrastructure following close behind to support business, potential arms sales and payments to Russian personnel.

“It didn’t happen like that in Mali, Burkina Faso or Niger,” she said. “In fact, we hadn’t seen Russia so firmly rooted since the Central African Republic.”

How Moscow is reinventing its influence machine across Africa

New words, old practices

Meanwhile, questions remain over how much has changed for the people of Madagascar. The authorities that emerged from last year’s uprising have themselves faced accusations of repressing Gen Z activists, six of whom were arrested in April.

“There has certainly been a political break since the previous regime fell,” political scientist Ketakandriana Rafitoson, vice-chair of anti-corruption organisation Transparency International, told RFI. “But I would say the vocabulary has changed more than the practices.”

Randrianirina’s administration has promised to overhaul the state, strengthen national sovereignty and forge a new relationship with citizens. But Rafitoson argues that the concentration of power, weak checks and balances, impunity and a lack of transparency persist.

“That is why today I would speak of a real political revolution, but an institutional 'refoundation' that remains largely unfinished.”

Young protesters in Antananarivo on 11 October 2025, amid a mass movement that forced then president Andry Rajoelina to resign. © AFP - LUIS TATO

Africa’s Gen Z unrest shows 'generational divide’ between people and politicians

While changing political practices built up over decades can take time, Rafitoson said this could not justify a lack of progress. “The victims of last year’s violence are still waiting for justice,” she said.

For the young people who drove the protests, there has been one significant shift. Gen Z has established itself as a political force capable of mobilising, shaping its own message and putting issues on the national agenda, Rafitoson said.

“But being heard does not yet mean having power.”

Some young activists now speak of betrayal as they see practices they fought against beginning to reappear. That frustration is also rooted in how little influence they have gained since helping force political change, Rafitoson said.

“They were powerful enough to help bring down a regime, but they have not gained the same influence over decision-making in the transition.”

This article draws on reporting from this story and this interview by RFI's French service.

France and Germany strike deal to boost Europe's struggling car industry

RFI — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 14:38:29 GMT

France and Germany have agreed a deal to safeguard Europe's automobile industry and stave off fierce competition from Chinese electric car companies. The agreement also opens the door for the United Kingdom to be treated as a trusted partner under "Made in EU" rules.

President Emmanuel Macron gives French manufacturer Citroen a boost at the 2026 Paris Motor Show. via REUTERS - Thibault Camus

The deal between Europe's two economic powerhouses aims to cut carbon emissions and support the development and manufacture of electric cars in Europe, the two countries said in a joint statement published on Friday.

"Our shared amibition is clear: to successfully transform our automotive industry while maintaining our climate ambition and ensuring that the cars of the future are produced in Europe," it said.

The deal also provides "concrete incentives for investment, research and development, European production and resilient supply chains".

The agreement still needs the backing of other EU states and the European Parliament to become law, but is expected to shape the continent's future policy.

European car manufacturers have been struggling to compete with their Chinese counterparts, which have been increasingly targeting Europe as they face barriers to selling in the United States and weaker demand at home.

Chinese electric vehicles and hybrids accounted for 10.7 percent of the European market in the second quarter of 2026, up from 5.7 percent a year earlier, Schmidt Automotive Research said.

Chinese carmakers descend on Paris as battle for European market intensifies

Franco-German dynamic

Paris and Berlin had long been at loggerheads on the course Europe should take as it seeks to revive its struggling auto industry.

Germany wanted less stringent carbon emission targets for carmakers and a broad interpretation of "made in Europe" to include key non-EU trade partners, such as Norway and the UK.

France, on the other hand, had pushed to preserve the bloc's climate ambitions and to keep the "made in Europe" public procurement scheme within the scope of EU member states.

Both countries' leaders welcomed the deal.

French President Emmanuel Macron said it showed a "clear ambition to successfully transform" the European automotive industry while upholding Europe's climate goals.

"We hope that this Franco-German dynamic will lead to a swift agreement with our partners, for the sake of our jobs and our industry," he wrote in a post on social media platform X.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz described the deal as a "good day for car drivers and for jobs in Germany, France and Europe".

"This sends a pro-investment signal to the industry," he wrote, also on X.

EU set to ease 2035 combustion-engine ban amid auto industry pressure

Softened emissions targets

The European Commission proposed last year that CO2 emissions from cars should drop by 90 percent from 2021 levels in 2035, and that carmakers would have to close the gap to 100 percent by using low-carbon steel and alternative fuels.

However, under the Franco-German deal, the target would be set at 90 percent without the need for any other compensatory measures.

The softened target is broadly in line with the wishes of German car manufacturers.

The deal also opens the door for cars running on renewable fuels to count as "zero-emission" and makes it much easier for automakers to reach CO2 targets.

EU and China open crunch trade talks in Beijing on hybrid car exports

'Good news' for the UK

The provisional Franco-German plan says that, for the automotive sector, the "Made in EU" label should cover the EU's 27 member states and other European partners that were part of the EU internal market on 1 January, 2020.

That would include the UK, which officially left the EU single market on 31 January, 2020.

An official at UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham's office said it would be good news for the UK's automotive sector if it was included in the "Made in EU" scheme. He added, however, that the Franco-German proposal would need European consensus and that details were yet to be seen.

The Franco-German plan also says this inclusion should be subject to an agreement on full reciprocity, along with "dynamic alignment with EU conditions for investment from third countries and with EU trade protection measures".

That could mean the UK having to adopt the measures the EU has taken to limit ⁠imports of Chinese-built hybrid and battery electric vehicles.

(with newswires)

Mayors urge France to recognise 1961 Paris massacre of Algerians as state crime

RFI — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 14:38:02 GMT

On the eve of the 65th anniversary of the massacre of Algerian protesters in Paris, French mayors are calling for the events of 17 October, 1961 to be officially recognised as a state crime.

Algerian protesters arrested in Puteaux, west of Paris, wait to be questioned by police. © AFP/Fernand Parizot

Sixty-five years ago, at the height of Algeria's war of independence against France, thousands of Algerian men and women heeded a call by the National Liberation Front (FLN) and took to the streets of Paris in protest.

The demonstrators were unarmed, but were in breach of a dusk to dawn curfew imposed on people of Algerian origin.

Police, under the authority of Paris police chief Maurice Papon, used extreme violence to disperse them.

The official death toll at the time was three. But historians' estimates have since put the figure between 100 and 200, many of whom were thrown into the River Seine.

The city of Paris began commemorating the massacre in 2001. In 2012, then-president François Hollande acknowledged a "bloody repression" and in 2021 President Emmanuel Macron described what happened as "inexcusable for the Republic".

But the French state has stopped short of taking full responsibility.

Now, some 30 mayors – including the Socialist mayor of Paris, Emmanuel Gregoire – have signed an appeal demanding full recognition of the massacre as a state crime.

1961 - Algerians massacred on Paris streets

'Facing our history'

In their statement, relayed by FranceInfo, the mayors also call for 17 October to be included in France’s calendar of national days and ceremonies, and for “the continued opening up of, and access to, the archives relating to 17 October, 1961 and, more broadly, to the Algerian War”.

“I have signed the mayors’ appeal: this state crime must be recognised as such. Truth. Memory. Justice,” wrote Saint-Denis mayor Bally Bagayoko of the far-left France Unbowed (LFI) party, in a social media post.

The signatories are also demanding memorial sites and educational initiatives for younger generations, so that the history of the massacre is fully taught and understood.

While the Algerian War has been part of France's secondary school curriculum since 1983, there is no obligation to cover the 17 October massacre.

The mayors claim the voices of victims, survivors and their families have been ignored for too long.

“Recognising 17 October, 1961 is not about reopening the wounds of the past. It is about facing our history. It is about delivering justice to those who were victims of this repression,” the statement said. “It is about recognising the voices of families and all those who have fought for decades to ensure that the truth is known.”

Wounds still cut deep 60 years after Algerians massacred in Paris

'Dark chapters'

In 2024, a majority of MPs voted through a resolution tabled by the Greens to recognise and condemn the massacre and establish a day of commemoration.

In October 2025, LFI tabled a resolution calling for the massacre to be officially recognised as a state crime.

Mathilde Panot, head of the LFI parliamentary group, said her party would take part in a tribute on Saturday for the victims of the massacre, adding: “We are still fighting for this massacre to be recognised as a state crime."

While left-wing parties broadly support such a move, the right-wing Republicans are opposed, arguing the historical and memorial work has already been done.

MPs with the far-right National Rally are staunchly opposed.

The party voted unanimously against the 2024 resolution. When Macron described the events as "inexcusable", Marine Le Pen – the party's candidate for next year's presidential election – slammed what she called France's "repeated acts of repentance", saying they had become "insupportable".

France and Algeria revisit painful past in battle to mend colonial wounds

However, the rector of the Grand Mosque of Paris, denies that a more complete recognition of 17 October would amount to "imposing endless guilt on France or eternally blaming itself”.

Writing on the mosque's website, Chems-Eddine Hafiz said: “To recognise is to give substance to equality – equality in knowledge – which allows us to take our natural place within the fabric of France.

"It is to integrate a section of our fellow citizens into history without detracting from its grandeur, for the history of every nation has its dark chapters."

School students called to join Yellow Vests and unions for mass French protest

RFI — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 11:56:57 GMT

Following an unsuccessful meeting with France's education minister on Thursday, protesting high school pupils across the country say they will not let up the pressure on the government. The Yellow Vests movement has called on the students to join them at a nationwide demonstration on Saturday over working conditions and the cost of living.

French high school students face CRS riot police during a sit-in to block a street near the Lycée Helene-Boucher high school in Paris, 16 October. © Sarah Meyssonnier / Reuters

High school union representatives said they were disappointed with the lack of response after their meeting with French Education Minister Édouard Geffray on Thursday evening – the third such meeting since the school protest movement began in mid-September.

"We walked out of the meeting because we weren't being heard; we’ve been told there will be another meeting on Monday, but we will not be attending," Marius Mesnil, of the Union syndicale lycéenne (USL, High School Student Union), told reporters.

The USL announced that it now intends to engage directly with Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu’s office, rather than with the Ministry of Education.

The union Les Lycéens! (High School Students) has taken a similar stance and, alongside the USL, has once again called on pupils to join in protests alongside other dissatisfied groups.

Why are French high school pupils protesting?

Student organisations had hoped for concrete announcements regarding the issues of school infrastructure, the Parcoursup higher education admissions system and class schedules – all of which lie at the heart of their demonstrations.

According to Geffray: "A significant step has been taken toward addressing their demands."

On Thursday, he confirmed that "2,000 substitute teachers have been assigned since Friday, out of the 3,000 promised."

Geffray also said that the changes to be made to the Parcoursup platform at the end of October will apply to current final-year high school students.

Swedish activist Greta Thunberg joined a student protest at the Paul Eluard high school in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, 13 October. AP Photo/John Leicester - John Leicester

France promises more teachers and student representation but protests continue

Anger 'aligned'

Authorities say they are expecting between 70,000 and 140,000 people to demonstrate across France on Saturday.

Sophie Binet, leader of the CGT union – one of the country's oldest and largest – said the day of action "shows the scale of the anger" in French society.

The "common thread" running through the demands of all those planning to protest on Saturday is the argument that "the government must take the money from where it actually is – from the pockets of billionaires... and the largest corporations," Binet said.

She added that this stance "aligns" with that of the school students protesting, and disputed the government’s claim that the high school protest movement is "losing steam".

"We must grasp the gravity of the situation: today, buying tomatoes or courgettes or filling up a car with petrol has become a luxury. There are millions of workers who... can no longer make ends meet," Binet told the France Inter radio station on Friday.

She said that to address this situation, Lecornu must "fundamentally overhaul" the draft budget and choose "to invest in the future by funding our education and higher education systems".

A demonstration in Paris held on the sixth anniversary of the Yellow Vests movement, 16 November, 2024. AFP - IAN LANGSDON

The Yellow Vests (gilets jaunes) movement has announced around a thousand actions planned for Saturday across France, and have called for student protesters to join forces with them.

The popular movement began over fuel hikes in 2018 – and was named for the reflective safety jackets drivers are required to keep in their vehicles in France – and later widened to protests against the rising cost of living and general discontent with President Emmanuel Macron's policies.

Organisers of the climate marches held on 26 September, the Confédération Paysanne (a farmers' union), the inter-union coalition for ride-hailing (VTC) drivers, and the trade union Solidaires also said they would join in.

Weapons authorised

Meanwhile, Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez announced on Friday that the use of "intermediate weapons" could be authorised during Saturday's protests, in the event of "extremely serious urban violence".

The use of stun grenades had been suspended "in the context of the high school student movement" after a 15-year-old protester had his hand blown off in Lens, northern France.

Teenager loses hand picking up grenade in France school protests

"The instructions I have issued are very clear: police officers and gendarmes must be able to use all the weapons at their disposal," Nuñez added, asserting that stun grenades are never "used for crowd control at a demonstration when things are going smoothly".

He indicated that some 250 demonstrations and 80 marches are set to be authorised, amongst them 40 smaller events such as blockades.

Lecornu earlier this week condemned what he called the transformation of the high school student movement into "a movement of urban violence" – adding that this was "an insult to the high school students themselves".

(with newswires)

Somalia sets date for May presidential election amid ongoing Islamist insurgency

RFI — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 09:53:55 GMT

Somalia's election commission has announced it will hold parliamentary and presidential polls in April and May next year, but critics say the decision will lead to more conflict in a deeply fragmented country facing a long-running Islamist insurgency.

Somali soldiers patrol a street after supporters of opposition political figures and state security forces clashed in Mogadishu in June. AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh - Farah Abdi Warsameh

The election commission said on Thursday that parliamentary polls would be held on 15 April, followed by a presidential vote scheduled for 15 May.

In a statement, it said the vote to elect a president was in accordance with a rule “which stipulates that the president’s term of office is five years, beginning on the date the president is sworn into office”.

President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud's second term, which began in 2022, ended in May this year, but his government declared a "transition period" through a constitutional amendment in May, despite an agreement with the opposition to hold elections.

Opposition parties boycotted that vote to amend the constitution and have rejected the changes since.

Mohamud has been trying to move Somalia towards party-based elections to replace a system based around clan elders. But his attempts have been opposed by regional leaders, who view them as a power grab.

Six million Somalis face acute hunger as drought and conflict worsen

'No political agreement'

The government welcomed the polling date announcements as an "important stage... towards reinforcing the country's democratic system".

It called for all parties to engage with the process "in good faith" and peacefully.

But former president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo said the unilateral election decision was a "dangerous threat to Somalia's statehood and future" and urged an agreement with all factions.

Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, another former president and opposition leader, said he had taken the constitutional reform programme adopted in March to the Somali courts and warned that a "contested [electoral] process could lead to parallel elections" and even "civil conflict".

For analyst Samira Gaid, there was "no political agreement to hold those elections".

She said the government was essentially made up of the capital Mogadishu and "two or three allied member states", and expressed concern over "conflict and more confrontation within the remaining federal member states".

"All the processes that the government is starting are leading to further fragmentation," she said.

Somali government confirms 'key' Islamic State figures killed in US airstrike

Insecurity

Mohamud's government has struggled to defeat the al Qaeda-allied militant group al Shabaab, which has been fighting Somalia's central government for two decades.

While the military – backed by an African Union peacekeeping mission AUSSOM – has pushed back the militants, al Shabaab still controls vast areas of the country and little progress has been made with organising elections beyond a few localised pockets.

Somalia also faces uncertainty regarding funding for AUSSOM. Although the United States initially said it would cut all funding by the end of 2026, it has since indicated the money will continue to flow for another year.

US can access Somaliland's minerals and military bases, says minister

In Mogadishu, there was heavy gunfire between rival political factions in June ahead of planned demonstrations against Mohamud's political changes.

The government also sent in troops to oust the head of South West State, Abdiaziz Hassan Mohamed Laftagareen, a dogged opponent of constitutional reform, in March.

Clashes between federal troops and forces allied to him have erupted sporadically since, including reports of fresh fighting on Thursday.

(with newswires)

Nineteen injured as minibus crashes into Channel Tunnel shuttle train

RFI — Fri, 16 Oct 2026 06:56:10 GMT

A minibus carrying truck drivers crashed into a freight train at the loading platform of the Eurotunnel injuring 19 people, French authorities said.

The bus veered off course and struck the side of the shuttle train, which was stationary at the loading platform for the tunnel, in the town of Coquelles near Calais, at 19:27 on Thursday, the local prefecture said in a statement.

It was carrying lorry drivers due to take a shuttle rail service.

Two people, including the bus driver, were hospitalised with serious but not life-threatening injuries, while 17 others sustained minor injuries.

Around 200 emergency responders and other personnel rushed to the scene. Vehicle shuttle service through the tunnel was suspended for 90 minutes before gradually resuming by late evening, authorities said.

Eurostar passenger trains and freight services were unaffected. The last two Eurostar trains of the day running between Paris and London were cancelled, but this was due to engineering works, and not the collision, Eurostar said.

The injured victims were of various nationalities, and the relevant consulates have been notified, local sub-prefect Agathe Cury told reporters, without specifying which countries they were from.

The Eurotunnel terminal site is pictured after a shuttle bus crashed into a stationary freight train inside the Channel Tunnel's secure loading terminal in Coquelles. AP Photo/Jean-Francois Badias - Jean-Francois Badias

Sabotage investigation underway after Normandy train derailment injures dozens

Rare incident

All those injured had been aboard the bus, Cury said.

"For a reason that currently remains unknown, the minibus collided with the departing train," she said.

"The bus did not overturn, it is still upright. But the shock and the collision caused injuries to the people involved."

An investigation was under way, she added.

Cury said it was "the first time an incident of this type has occurred" on a Eurotunnel loading platform.

The 50km Channel Tunnel is the longest infrastructure of its kind in the world. It has linked Coquelles in northern France and Folkestone in England since 1994.

Operated by Getlink, it is used by several hundred trains every day. Last year it carried 3.4 million vehicles, along with millions of Eurostar passengers.

(with newswires)

Infantino offers apology but 'no answers' at Fifa meeting over World Cup plan

RFI — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 15:57:31 GMT

Zurich (AFP) – Fifa president Gianni Infantino gave "no satisfactory answers" when grilled Thursday during a meeting to discuss his attempts to sell stakes in the World Cup to private investors, senior members of football's global governing body said, but he did offer an apology for the failed project.

Under-fire Gianni Infantino faced up to Fifa Council members at its first meeting since his failed plan to open up the World Cup to private investors. © Nhac NGUYEN / AFP/File

"We asked a great many critical questions, but there were no satisfactory answers from my point of view," said Bernd Neuendorf, the head of the German Football Association (DFB), who is also a member of the Fifa Council.

Neuendorf was speaking after the council met behind closed doors at the body's Zurich headquarters, where Infantino's Fifa Forward Enterprise (FFE) proposal was one of the main topics on the agenda.

Infantino has been under severe pressure since his announcement in late July that he wanted to open Fifa's premium competitions such as the World Cup to private investors.

That plan was ultimately abandoned in the face of widespread criticism, with a rebellion led by European governing body Uefa, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Conacaf, which runs the sport in North and Central America and the Caribbean.

"I apologised for the mistakes that we made in relation to the communication and consultation process related to the Fifa Forward Enterprise project," Infantino said in a video published by Fifa.

"But what is important to remember is that it was a proposal, so in no way a done deal, just a proposal, that actually intended to enable Fifa to invest more in our member associations."

However, the Fifa chief reaffirmed that the FFE initiative "has been permanently withdrawn and will not reappear in any form".

Infantino has headed Fifa since 2016 and is running for re-election next March, despite calls for him to stand down in the wake of the FFE plan.

For the moment, no heavyweight candidate has put themselves forward to run against him.

Debbie Hewitt, the chair of the English Football Association who is also a Fifa vice-president, told reporters that Infantino is "not fit to be Fifa president" unless he releases all documents pertaining to the failed sell-off plan and answers key questions.

Hewitt and Neuendorf are among the 36 members of the Fifa Council, along with Infantino.

"We were asked to submit our questions" in relation to the plan which was not put to the Fifa Council before the July announcement, Hewitt said.

"One of the disappointing things was we didn't get answers. We didn't get answers to anything we had specifically requested, for example getting the papers from FFE, and so we asked the question why and why not."

'Nothing has shifted'

Many leading European national associations have withdrawn their support for Infantino in the upcoming election because of the uproar caused by FFE and other controversies, including his relationship with US president Donald Trump.

Chief among those were Infantino's decision to create a Fifa Peace Prize and award it to Trump at last December's World Cup draw, and the decision to suspend a ban for United States striker Folarin Balogun following a red card during the World Cup after Trump intervened directly by phoning Infantino.

"I speak for myself as a Council member – from my position nothing has shifted," Hewitt added.

"I have no new information that makes me feel any differently to how I felt when I went in, other than we do have a president of Fifa who is apologetic about what has happened, and secondly a promise again that we will get the information that we have requested."

Fifa confirmed its intention to set up a $6.35-billion development fund for the next four years, a plan which is expected to be finalised by the council at its next meeting in December.

To finance the fund, which would allow money to be distributed to Fifa's 211 federations as well as to the regional confederations, it would draw in part on its financial reserves after a commercially successful 2026 World Cup.

The plan would allow for the payment of $25 million to all 211 member federations.

Infantino may hope the latest plan reinforces his position ahead of the election.

The deadline for submitting candidacies is November 18.

Trial of French IS returnee highlights a growing focus on the women who came back

RFI — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 14:53:05 GMT

Courts are increasingly turning their attention to the women who joined the Islamic State armed group in Syria and Iraq, and then returned to France. The latest case opened Wednesday: that of Radia Tahar Aouidate, was one of 23 members of her family to travel to Syria, under the influence of her brother.

Unidentified women at the Roj Camp in Syria, which houses family members of suspected Islamic State militants, 18 February. AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad - Baderkhan Ahmad

Tahar Aouidate, known as Selma, appeared before the special court in Paris that tries terrorist cases, charged with participating in a terrorist criminal conspiracy over her involvement with the Islamic State (IS) between 2014 and 2020, as well as recruiting another person.

She is a revenante – the word used for a woman who travelled to Syria or Iraq to join terrorist organisations, including the IS, before returning to France.

Women accounted for nearly a third of the approximately 1,500 French nationals who travelled to the region, and proportionally more of them have returned to France.

According to the latest figures from the National Anti-Terrorism Prosecutor’s Office (PNAT), cited by Le Monde, 176 of the 395 adults who came back to France were women.

Of those, 56 have been convicted by the special court.

They are increasingly becoming the focus of the court’s proceedings, with the principal terrorist attacks and attempted attacks having been tried. Of the 23 terrorism cases scheduled to be heard by the special court this year, 18 involve female returnees.

Children of French jihadists found in Syrian orphanage

Family radicalisation

In court, Tahar Aouidate described her family – even before its radicalisation – as “a cult”, with her brother, Fodil, as its guru. He exercised, she said, “absolute” authority over his eight sisters, with their mother’s approval.

In late 2013, Fodil began pressuring her and others in the family to travel to Syria and join the IS. Between May and September of 2014, 23 family members did.

Tahar Aouidate's parents, six of her sisters, their husbands and children left their home in the northern French city of Roubaix and went to Syria – even with Fodil under surveillance, until his own departure in June 2014.

Fodil is now in prison in Iraq. In 2019, he was among 11 French nationals sentenced to death in Iraq for belonging to the IS. His death sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment.

Tahar Aouidate was married off by her brother to a Tunisian IS fighter and, like 86 percent of the 22 female returnees whose cases were heard by the special courts in 2026, she gave birth in Syria. Her two children, now aged nine and 11, are currently under the care of the French state.

She faces a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.

Challenge to HIV restrictions in French armed forces goes before top court

RFI — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 12:50:32 GMT

Several organisations have brought a case before France’s highest court to challenge the continued exclusion of people living with HIV from certain posts in the armed forces, gendarmerie and fire services.

A French pilot in the cockpit of a Mirage 2000D fighter plane. Currently, service members living with HIV are unable to become army pilots. © Reuters/ECPAD

The organisations bringing the case before the Council of State, including STOP Homophobie and SOS Racisme, point to “an excess of power” wielded by recruiters, who keep people with HIV out of certain posts.

In May 2023, France opened the army, gendarmerie and Paris and Marseille fire brigades to people living with HIV.

However, some positions – such as military pilots, those in commando units and some specialist firefighting jobs – remain off-limits because of medical assessments.

The armed forces, gendarmerie and fire service assess candidates’ fitness using the Sigycop medical classification system, widely used in the French public sector.

People living with HIV are automatically unable to receive the highest rating in these tests “even if receiving treatment, asymptomatic and in perfect health”, Étienne Deshoulières, the lawyer bringing the case, said in a statement.

Stamping out misinformation in France's fight against HIV-Aids

The organisations are asking for medical fitness requirements to be overhauled, as they discriminate against “all people living with HIV without distinction”, said Deshoulières.

He said the medical assessment amounts to “HIV-related discrimination” – which he added is “indirectly homophobic and racist”.

Forty-two percent of people living with HIV are men who have sex with men, while 24 percent are from sub-Saharan Africa, according to the latest survey of people living with HIV by France’s national agency for Emerging Infectious Diseases research.

The organisations say they asked the Minister for the Armed Forces, as well as the Interior Minister, who oversees the police and the Health Ministry, to repeal the provisions in question on 30 June.

They brought the case to the Council of State after receiving no response.

(with AFP)

Belgian police raid Tshisekedi family properties in DRC mining investigation

RFI — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 10:32:45 GMT

Police have searched several properties in Belgium belonging to family members of Democratic Republic of Congo's President Félix Tshisekedi, as part of an investigation into suspected personal enrichment from the country’s mining sector.

A complaint has been filed in Belgium against members of the family of Félix Tshisekedi, pictured here in December 2025. © Evan Vucci/AP

The Belgian federal prosecutor’s office confirmed that several searches were conducted simultaneously on Wednesday in Brussels and the two provinces surrounding the Belgian capital.

The office referred to a money-laundering complaint filed in July 2025, although the case is broader in scope, involving accusations of corruption, embezzlement and financial offences linked to mining activities.

In early July 2025, several NGOs in the Katanga region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and four former directors of Gécamines, the state-owned mining company, filed a complaint with the Belgian federal prosecutor’s office against members of Tshisekedi’s family.

They accuse them of illegally exploiting mines and plundering mineral resources in Lualaba and Haut-Katanga provinces.

UN panel seeks to stem mining abuses in global rush for critical minerals

The complaint was filed in Belgium, as nine of the family members named in the case hold Belgian nationality.

The prosecutor’s office has not identified the people whose properties were searched on Wednesday. The members of the president's family named in the complaint include his wife, mother and brother.

The president himself is not directly implicated in the searches.

'False and defamatory'

The president’s family has rejected the allegations, with lawyers describing them as “entirely unfounded, false and defamatory”.

Jean-Pierre Muteba, spokesperson for the collective that brought the case, alleged that authorities had misappropriated mining waste, known as tailings, and that billions of dollars may have been diverted from the public treasury.

DRC opposition condemns violence at protests over constitutional changes

According to the complaint, any funds found to have been misappropriated should be recovered and used to support the DRC’s development.

The DRC is the world’s top producer of cobalt, a critical mineral used in rechargeable batteries, including those in electric vehicles, but the country’s mining sector has long faced allegations of corruption and a lack of transparency as to how revenues are managed and distributed.

Ukraine’s Starlink disruptions expose European reliance on US tech

RFI — Thu, 15 Oct 2026 05:38:27 GMT

Ukraine has reported disruptions to drones relying on Elon Musk's Starlink satellite internet network, as well as the United States-operated early warning system supposed to alert it to Russian missile attacks. The problems expose Europe's dependence on US technology, with no homegrown alternatives immediately available.

Ukrainian soldiers set up a Starlink satellite internet system near the frontline town of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, 10 April 2025. © Inna Varenytsia/Reuters

Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday that Starshield, SpaceX’s military-grade satellite communications service, had been interrupted when terminals were moving at high speed, which disrupted Ukrainian drones being used for attack missions and air defence.

President Volodymyr Zelensky also said Wednesday that for the second night in a row Ukraine had not received warning from its partners of a Russian ballistic missile attack on Kyiv. The Space-Based Infrared System, a satellite constellation operated by the US military, provides early missile launch warnings.

The reasons for the difficulties were not immediately clear.

SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk said Wednesday that any restrictions were Washington's responsibility. “Starshield systems are owned and controlled by the US government. Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military” and ultimately the president, Musk said.

Relations between US President Donald Trump and Ukraine have soured after Trump announced a deal to lift sanctions on Russian diesel and called for Zelensky to be replaced.

EU cautious over Trump’s ‘energy ceasefire’ as Russia continues Ukraine attacks

European capacity limited

Ukraine's European allies have been unable to offer immediate alternatives, highlighting the reliance on US systems for both low-orbit satellite communications – provided by SpaceX via Starlink – and space-based infrared sensing that feeds into early-warning systems..

European operator Eutelsat's OneWeb network offers satellite connectivity, but industry analysts say capacity and performance constraints make it unsuitable for frontline use. Switching networks would also mean swapping out thousands of Starlink terminals, as the two systems are not interconnected.

European Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius acknowledged the broader problem at a conference in Brussels on Wednesday.

European space giants plan new satellite powerhouse to take on Starlink

Europe is “quite dependent on American space capabilities”, he said, calling for the continent to develop its own systems.

He pointed to the European Union's IRIS² satellite constellation, a planned network of nearly 300 satellites that aims to rival Starlink and other US satellite internet service providers such as Amazon's Project Kuiper.

However, that project remains at least four years from becoming fully operational.

Germany is also developing a military satellite constellation, and Kubilius urged European countries to work together.

(with Reuters)