International report

Turkish artist Anil Olcan spent a year finding images of Turkey’s “disappeared” people in order to exhibit them as a way of marking that they existed. Rights groups say most of the people in question disappeared during the 1990s as part of the Turkish State's war against Kurdish separatists. Some see art as a way of helping people see what might otherwise just be abstract facts and policies.

Click the 'play' button above to listen or subscribe to our podcast by searching 'rfi international report'.

Kenya's Indian Ocean coastline provides livelihoods for fishing communities. But environmental degradation and sea-sand harvesting to improve Mombasa's port threatens the eco-system.

Click the 'play' button above to listen or subscribe to our podcast by searching 'rfi international report'.

Liberals in India fear that a second term for Prime Minister Narendra Modi might prompt a decisive turn against the country’s secular traditions. They base their concern on the direction taken by Modi and his Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) since taking power in 2014.

Intellectuals cite repeated instances of banning books as well as threats and assassinations as a sign of growing attempts by right-wing fringe elements to curtail freedoms and impose their ideologies on others.

In the second and last part of the series on anxious Muslims in India, Murali Krishnan looks at the cycle of hate-mongering by Hindu groups.

Click the 'play' button above to listen or subscribe to our podcast by searching 'rfi international report'.

Riding on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s popularity and a wave of nationalism, the right-wing Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party or BJP was voted back into power in India’s recent elections, with an increased majority.

The party won over 300 of the 543 seats in parliament, in what is being hailed as "a historic mandate".

The win makes Modi the first non-Congress party prime minister to return to power after a full five-year term.

But the party’s return to power has exacerbated the fears of India’s 190 million Muslims, who represent roughly 14 percent of the country’s 1.3 billion population.

Under this government, some minorities like the low caste Dalits feel their worries have increased, while their space to express their unease has diminished.

Murali Krishnan examines the implications of the BJP win in the first of a two-part series.

Click the 'play' button above to listen or subscribe to our podcast by searching 'rfi international report'.

German towns and cities have for decades competed at this time of the year to put on the best Weinachtsmarkt or Christmas market.

The capital, Berlin, has more than 60 of them, spread through its many neighborhoods, and all appear to be doing a roaring trade in mulled vine and currywurst sausages.

The Christmas markets bring in billions of euros in tourism revenue, which has led many towns to try new and old techniques to attract more visitors.

Nik Martin visited one market, which has for many years done away with 21st century comforts like electricity, and is instead lit by candlelight and oil lamps.

Click the 'play' button above to listen or subscribe to our podcast by searching 'rfi international report'.

In Senegal, gender norms are being defied in the conservative country at the country’s first female garage.

At Femme Auto, the only garage that has made employing female mechanics a priority, around half the staff today are women.

But due to a shortage of qualified women, male mechanics are hired to make up the numbers.

But none of the women there would have even considered a job poking around under a car bonnet, if it hadn’t been for its founder, Ndeye Coumba Mboup.

Emanuelle Landais went to meet her and her team.

Click the 'play' button above to listen or subscribe to our podcast by searching 'rfi international report'.

Emerging technologies and growing environmental concerns are changing the way we travel.

Exciting new concepts like autonomous electric cars and drones are now on the verge of entering the mainstream.

Dhananjay Khadilkar takes a look at some of these technologies that provide a glimpse into the future of mobility.

Click the 'play' button above to listen or subscribe to our podcast by searching 'rfi international report'.

Tunisians have got through the Muslim month of Ramadan, struggling with a tangible rise in the prices of food products because some suppliers have exploited an opportunity for speculation.

This situation has put an additional burden on families already facing high inflation and the depreciation of the Dinar.

Alessandra Bajec has this report from Tunis.

Click the 'play' button above to listen or subscribe to our podcast by searching 'rfi international report'.

In India, a second straight electoral defeat for Rahul Gandhi has raised doubts about his status as the primary opposition leader.

The loss has also weakened the Nehru-Gandhi clan which has produced three of India's 14 prime ministers.

The dynasty's Congress paryt faces extinction before the tide of right-wing Hindu resurgence that is sweeping through India.

Vikram Roy has this report from Delhi, narrated by Michael Fitzpatrick.

Click the 'play' button above to listen or subscribe to our podcast by searching 'rfi international report'.

98 percent of Tsetse flies have been eradicated from an infested area in Senegal.

It's a victory other countries on the continent will be keen to replicate although the work is still on-going.

Tsetse flies spread trypanosomiasis or sleepy sickness in humans and cattle and kills more than three million livestock in sub-Saharan Africa every year.

Although Tsetse flies are no bigger than a house fly, they remain a huge obstacle to farming livestock and milk production, impacting the livelihoods of farmers.

Now after more than 10 years, the wild flies have been successfully wiped out in an area of Senegal thanks to the gradual release of sterile males reared in laboratories in Europe and Africa.

Emmanuelle Landais has this report from Dakar.

Click the 'play' button above to listen or subscribe to our podcast by searching 'rfi international report'.