International report

Like every year, France kicked off its festive season with the Beaujolais Nouveau celebrations. Japan and the US are the largest importers of Beaujolais Nouveau, a freshly harvested wine with a very short shelf-life. Marketed as a fine wine outside of France, the New Beaujolais is considered quite low-end by the French.

Arnab Béranger has this report from a festive event in central Paris aimed to boost sales of the 2019 Beaujolais Nouveau in France and across the world.

While only a few months removed, the fires in the Amazon, which stoked so much international attention in August and September, have largely been forgotten outside the region. In the Brazilian state of Pará, the flames were the cause of incredible damage.

Deforestation, and forest fires in particular, have enormous implications for increased greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore the global climate. The plight of indigenous and other traditional peoples are also under growing threat.

Sam Schramski, with help from Brazilian colleagues Adriana Abreu and Cícero Pedrosa, gets a little bit closer to understanding this crisis in a three-part series focusing on the complex and troubled area known as Altamira.

In this third report, they return to the Assurini settlement to speak with locals to understand how some rural producers may use fire selectively for crop rotation but don't set fire to extensive forest stands like many miners, loggers, and large ranchers and farmers.

While only a few months removed, the fires in the Amazon, which stoked so much international attention in August and September, have largely been forgotten outside the region. In the Brazilian state of Pará, the flames were the cause of incredible damage. Deforestation, and forest fires in particular, have enormous implications for increased greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore the global climate.

The plight of indigenous and other traditional peoples are also under growing threat. Sam Schramski, with help from Brazilian colleagues Adriana Abreu and Cícero Pedrosa, gets a little bit closer to understanding this crisis in a three-part series focusing on the complex and troubled area known as Altamira.

In this second part, they delve further into the Amazon fire crisis and speak to some of the actors who suppor, and are active in deforestation in the wildcat mining and logging economies.

While only a few months removed, the fires in the Amazon, which stoked so much international attention in August and September, have largely been forgotten outside the region. In the Brazilian state of Pará, the flames were the cause of incredible damage.

Deforestation and forest fires in particular, have enormous implications for increased greenhouse gas emissions, and therefore the global climate. The plight of indigenous and other traditional peoples are also under growing threat.

Sam Schramski, with help from Brazilian colleagues Adriana Abreu and Cícero Pedrosa, gets a little bit closer to understanding this crisis in a three-part series focusing on the complex and troubled area known as Altamira.

In this first part, they look at how these problems started and situate them in the context of the national and international perspectives that may have been overlooked a couple months ago.

Tuesday 19 November is the UN’s International Toilet Day. The idea is to inspire action to tackle the global sanitation crisis.

The theme for this year is on the importance of drawing attention to the 4.2 billion people around the world who do not have safely managed sanitation.

Nigeria has the worst case of open defecation in Africa and second globally.

Sam Olukoya has been looking at the impacts of the lack of toilets in the lives of some Nigerians.

If you've ever visited Paris, chances are you've noticed a bizarre feature of the urban landscape: Wallace fountains.

There are no fewer than 103 of these drinking fountains in the French capital.

In this era of bottled water, fountains might seem a bit out of date. But, as Joan Gioacchini reports, they remain useful, beautiful, and strangely melodic.

The month of October is dedicated worldwide to raising awareness about Breast Cancer.

In Senegal, chemotherapy treatment for women with breast or cervical cancer - the leading cause of death in the country – is now totally free, subsidised by the government since 1 October in a bid to support patients and reduce their heavy healthcare costs.

Around 1,500 cases of breast cancer are diagnosed annually thanks in part to public events held by the Senegalese league against cancer across the country as Emmanuelle Landais reports from Dakar.

The Arab World Institute in Paris held its annual International Poetry Night at the weekend, featuring performances from the Arab-speaking world throughout Saturday night. RFI correspondent Arnab Béranger was at the event. He spoke to three women poets, who talked of poetry as an emotional and political tool. He also visited an all-night 'Migrant's Kitchen' that was set up for the occasion.

Less than 30 thousand of the 3.6 million registered Syrians in Turkey have work permits.

As a result, many of them live in poverty.

Some make ends meets as undeclared workers in the garment and agricultural sectors.

Those who manage to obtain work permits go overwhelmingly into business.

In recent years, the number of Syrian restaurants and cafés has exploded in Istanbul.

In this final report from a 5-part series, Shona Bhattacharyya and Asma Al Omar meet with two entrepreneurs who have found success after leaving their native country behind them.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently threatened to open the floodgates by allowing Syrian refugees living in Turkey to flee to Europe.

The fear of that very scenario is why the European Union and Ankara sealed a pact in 2016 to pay Turkey a total 6 billion euros to keep Syrian refugees in Turkey, and out of the European Union.

But many Syrians continue to dream of making it to Europe.

Shona Bhattacharyya and Asma Al Omar met with Mahmoud, who thinks he has found a way.