France

Kenya protests: Ruto pulling the finance bill is unlikely to satisfy angry young protesters – here’s why

By Kathleen Klaus, Uppsala University In a move that shocked observers, Kenya’s President William Ruto announced on 26 June he was withdrawing his government’s highly controversial finance bill. This followed two days in which tens of thousands of mostly young protesters took to the streets in nationwide rallies against the proposals contained in the country’s 2024 budget. Kathleen Klaus, who has studied […]

27 June, 2024

World

Paris opens new airport connection as Olympics approach

Paris will have its first direct subway connection to one of its airports as a new metro line opens on June 24. The airport extension enters service just ahead of the Olympic Games, when millions of visitors are set to arrive in the French capital.

24 June, 2024

World

French voters scramble for proxy votes

More than 550,000 proxy-vote applications have been submitted so far in the build-up to the French general election. The second round of the vote falls at the start of the French school summer holidays. Ross Cullen reports.

19 June, 2024

World

Search for dozens feared missing after deadly migrant shipwrecks off Italy

By Gael BRANCHEREAU, Ella IDE The Italian coastguard searched off southern Italy Monday for survivors or the bodies of dozens of migrants feared missing, after two shipwrecks left 11 people dead. With up to 60 migrants potentially lost at sea, the coastguard said it has been looking for "possible missing persons" since late Sunday, "following the shipwreck of a sailing boat with migrants on board, presumably departing […]

17 June, 2024

Africa

France reducing military presence in West, Central Africa to 600 troops: sources

By Daphné BENOIT France is planning to reduce its military presence in West and Central Africa to around 600 troops in line with President Emmanuel Macron's plans to limit the French military footprint in the region, three sources told AFP. In February 2023, Macron announced "noticeable reduction" of French troop presence in Africa, as anti-French sentiment is running high in some former colonies and countries […]

17 June, 2024

World

Snap elections in France: a political scientist lays out what’s at stake

By Julien Robin, Université de Montréal Speaking at a surprise address to the nation on Sunday evening, French president Emmanuel Macron told French citizens he had “decided to give [them] back the choice of our parliamentary future through the vote”. These words, pronounced in reaction to the historic surge of the far-right National Rally at the European elections, triggered the dissolution of France’s […]

11 June, 2024

World

Green parties suffer EU poll drubbing

By Sam Reeves Green parties suffered major losses in the EU elections, particularly in France and Germany, hit by growing discontent at the bloc's environmental push and by voters' shifting priorities. They had notched up their best ever results at the last European Parliament polls five years ago, which were accompanied by mass rallies over climate change. But the parties appeared to be the biggest losers […]

10 June, 2024

World

Macron urges French to make ‘right choice’ in poll gamble

By Alice Hackman and Stuart Williams President Emmanuel Macron said Monday he was confident the French would make the "right choice" in snap elections he called after the far right crushed his centrist alliance in Sunday's EU ballot. His surprise move came after mainstream centrist parties kept an overall majority in the European Parliament in Sunday's poll, but the far right notched up a string of […]

10 June, 2024

World

EU parliament election sees shaken centre hold – but far right now has chances to show its strength

By Amelia Hadfield, University of Surrey After the four-day, 27-state democratic marathon that is the European parliamentary election, a picture has emerged of a fragile centre just holding amid a shift to the right that carries a significant potential to shape the near future of the EU, despite having fallen short of producing the earthquake some predicted. The big shock came in France, with […]

10 June, 2024