Kylian Mbappe scored twice as France launched their bid for a third World Cup crown with a 3-1 victory over Senegal in Group I on Tuesday.

A dozen Israeli company stands were shut down Monday at a major international defence and security exhibition held outside Paris, sparking outrage from authorities in Israel.

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu announced on Tuesday a further investment of €655 million to accelerate the development of artificial intelligence as well as an AI programme for public service employees. France is keen to build strategic autonomy in the face of competition from China and the United States.

Only a third of the recommendations made more than two years ago by France's Independent Commission on Incest and Sexual Violence Against Children (Ciivise) have been fully implemented, the body said in an assessment submitted to the government.

In his first major international interview since becoming Speaker of Senegal's National Assembly, former prime minister Ousmane Sonko talks to RFI and sister channel France 24 about his split with his long-time ally President Bassirou Diomaye Faye. In the wide-reaching discussion, he also touches on the debt crisis, homosexuality legislation, regional security, his political aspirations and the World Cup.

Former Cameroonian presidential candidate Issa Tchiroma Bakary says he's filed two complaints with the Paris Judicial Court against President Paul Biya, citing the principle of universal jurisdiction.

Protesters in Geneva threw stones and firecrackers at the police, who responded with tear gas and water cannons during a demonstration Sunday against the G7 summit in nearby Evian.

British forces on Sunday intercepted a sanctioned oil tanker belonging to Russia's shadow fleet in the English Channel, the defence ministry said, in a six-hour operation hailed by Kyiv.

Some of the West African film industry's biggest names are backing a new mentorship programme to support emerging women filmmakers. Showcased at this year's Cannes Film Festival, the Mariama Lab project aims to help women bring their stories to a wider audience in the region and beyond.

Lebanon reported Israeli strikes on the country's south on Saturday as the Israeli army issued evacuation warnings for more than 20 locations including the city of Nabatieh ahead of raids there.

Several African countries are repatriating their citizens from South Africa following weeks of xenophobic attacks on black migrants. The vigilante violence has drawn international condemnation, with some accusing the South African authorities of failing to take a tough approach.

The United States said it downed multiple Iranian drones targeting commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz early Saturday, hours after both sides said a deal to end the Middle East war was closer than ever.

France's system for moving asylum seekers from the Paris region to other parts of the country has helped ease pressure on accommodation, but is not being used to its full potential and remains unevenly applied, according to the country's public spending watchdog.

British artist David Hockney, one of the most influential and defining figures in contemporary art, whose paintings captured the world in brilliant colour, has died aged 88, his publicist announced Friday.

Israeli and Palestinian civil society groups meet in Paris on Friday to urge the international community not to abandon a two-state solution, as France seeks to keep the issue alive amid the war in the Middle East.

Julian Quinones and Raul Jimenez punished an indisciplined South Africa on Thursday night to launch Mexico’s campaign at the 2026 World Cup.

RFI has condemned Israel's decision to refuse entry to journalist Alice Froussard, describing the move as "an obstacle to press freedom". Froussard, who reports on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for French media, including RFI, was turned away on arrival at Tel Aviv airport and sent back without explanation.

French singer and actor Patrick Bruel has been charged with rape, attempted rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment, prosecutors said on Wednesday, in a case that now involves accusations by more than 20 women.

Ghana enter the first 48-team World Cup ranked 14th among African sides in the Fifa standings. In the final instalment of a nine-part series on African squads at the 2026 tournament, hosted across the United States, Mexico and Canada, RFI looks at a nation making its fifth World Cup appearance.

The world experienced its second-hottest May on record in 2026 as an unusually early and intense heatwave swept across Europe, setting new temperature records across the continent, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service said on Wednesday.

Ghana head coach Carlos Queiroz praised his players willingness to be flexible to different ideas as they went through their final preparations for their opening game at the 2026 World Cup against Panama on Wednesday in Toronto.

Hervé Renard took over the Tunisia national squad on Tuesday for the remainder of their World Cup campaign following the departure of head coach Sabri Lamouchi who was in charge when the team lost 5-1 to Sweden

As the G7 summit enters its first full day of discussions, French President Emmanuel Macron faces the challenge of keeping his US counterpart Donald Trump engaged as leaders weigh pressure on Russia, Middle East diplomacy and renewed trade tensions with Washington.

France come into this year's World Cup as one of the leading contenders for the trophy having reached the final of the last two editions, but Tuesday's opponents in their opening game, Senegal, serve as a warning of the dangers of over-confidence.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday warned Iran against imposing tolls on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, saying "everything" should be done so fees are not charged for passage through the key bottleneck.

France's president on Monday said that a military mission set up by Paris and Britain to help with Strait of Hormuz traffic was ready to deploy, following the announcement of an US-Iran deal to end the war in the Middle East, including in Lebanon. Israel insists it is not bound by the deal.

Somaliland's President Abdirahman Mohamed Abdullahi met his Israeli counterpart on Sunday in Jerusalem in his first-ever state visit, which comes months after Israel officially recognised the breakaway African state.

A group of young Ugandan dancers from the slums of Kampala have been invited to perform alongside pop star Shakira at the 2026 World Cup final, an opportunity they hope will bring them new visibility and help them transform their future.

For millions of people, getting a visa is the key to studying, working or travelling abroad, but applicants on the African continent say the process has become increasingly expensive and difficult due to VFS Global – an Indian company that handles visa applications for dozens of African governments. An investigation by Lighthouse Reports and its media partners, including RFI, found complaints of aggressive sales tactics and a thriving market for fraud.

The United States and Iran said they reached a deal to end the Middle East war on all fronts including Lebanon, and reopen the vital Strait of Hormuz, but offered little indication on the thorny question of Tehran's nuclear programme.

Six Georgians have been sentenced to up to seven years' jail in France over the theft of rare editions of Russian literary classics, including by 19th-century luminary Alexander Pushkin, from prestigious French libraries.

Nikol Pashinyan’s sweeping re-election in Armenia has raised fresh hopes that the border with Turkey could finally reopen after three decades of closure. The Armenian prime minister campaigned on restoring ties with Turkey and Azerbaijan, as well as moving Armenia closer to Europe – but constitutional reform remains a major obstacle.

Drone strikes blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) have killed at least 23 civilians and wounded 19 others in the Sudanese city of El-Obeid, local monitoring groups have said, as the use of armed drones continues to spread across the country in its more than three-year war.

Cannabis use in France is once again under scrutiny, with a drugs monitor reporting a sharp rise in adulterated products on the illegal market, and risky new products entering the legal CBD market. To address the issue of mislabelled products, France has banned edible CBD products, raising concerns in the cannabis industry.

A major reform of European migration rules aimed at hardening border procedures and overhauling the asylum process comes into force on Friday.

For almost a decade, an Islamist group has terrorised Mozambique's northern province of Cabo Delgado. Despite vast reserves of rubies, timber and natural gas, the region remains the country's poorest. This first instalment of Mozambique Exposed – an investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories to which RFI contributed – examines how exploitation of the region's wealth, corruption and alleged abuses by security forces helped fuel the insurgency.

Human-induced global warming is on track to reach 1.5C around 2030, a group of leading scientists said on Thursday.

FIFA has issued World Cup accreditation to French sports journalist Christophe Gleizes, who has been detained in Algeria for more than a year, in a move hailed by press freedom campaigners as an important gesture of solidarity.

Amnesty International has accused Israel of carrying out what it described as a state-led campaign of “ethnic cleansing” against Bedouin and herding communities in the occupied West Bank, saying the measures were intended to accelerate the annexation of Palestinian territory.

Highly potent synthetic opioids are spreading through Europe's fast-changing drug market, linked to hundreds of deaths as traffickers shift to smaller ports and new smuggling methods, the European Union Drugs Agency (EUDA) has warned.

The European Parliament gave the green light on Tuesday to a tariff deal with the United States, in a bid to close a volatile chapter of transatlantic trade relations.

More than one billion children face at least three overlapping climate hazards, the UN childrens' agency Unicef has warned, while highlighting the disproportionate impact in some regions of the world.

A UN-backed court in the the Central African Republic will on Tuesday begin the trial in absentia of former president François Bozizé, over crimes against humanity committed between 2009 and 2013.

Almost a decade after an Islamist insurgency erupted in Mozambique's northern Cabo Delgado province, few reports on the conflict are emerging from the region. This third instalment of Mozambique Exposed – an investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories, to which RFI contributed – hears from journalists and activists facing intimidation and violence.

French NGO Doctors Without Borders warned Monday that "dangerous gaps" remain in efforts to rein in an Ebola outbreak that has killed more than 180 people in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Since the first reported cases a month ago, the virus has spread rapidly, with the situation now critical in Ituri province.

As a G7 summit opens in eastern France on Monday, President Emmanuel Macron is set to lead the allies' efforts to narrow differences with the United States on Iran, Ukraine, trade and big tech regulation.

Ninety years ago, a broad left-wing coalition swept to power and kickstarted reforms that fundamentally changed working life in France. Its brief but radical tenure made it the stuff of legend for the French left.

Thousands of anti-G7 protesters were expected to rally in Geneva Sunday under a heavy police presence ahead of the summit in Evian, just across the border with France.

Ghana's government confirmed on Saturday it had lodged a formal protest with Canada over its refusal to issue an entry visa to the Ghana midfielder Thomas Partey ahead of Ghana's game against Panama on Wednesday in Toronto.

United States head coach Mauricio Pochettino lavished praise on his players and the American fans after his side romped past Paraguay 4-1 at the Los Angeles Stadium.

Whistleblowing in France is on the rise, according to the independent authority in charge of protecting those who speak out in the public interest. The Défenseur des Droits has seen an increase in cases, reflecting a growing awareness of the process of speaking out and the protection available for those who do.

The resumption of one of the world's biggest gas projects by French energy giant TotalEnergies, after a five-year suspension following a deadly jihadist attack, has raised hopes of jobs and prosperity in northern Mozambique. But this second instalment of Mozambique Exposed – an investigation coordinated by Forbidden Stories, to which RFI contributed – questions whether the country's vast gas wealth will benefit local communities.

The mayors of Toulouse and Clermont-Ferrand are imposing nighttime curfews on children under 16 during the 2026 World Cup. They say the move is aimed at preventing the violent unrest seen after Paris Saint-Germain's Champions League victory last month.

Authorities in the Democratic Republic of Congo have launched an online campaign to tackle growing mistrust surrounding a deadly Ebola outbreak. The World Health Organization (WHO) says misinformation is hampering efforts to contain the haemorrhagic fever, which broke out in the eastern province of Ituri on 15 May.

A man with ties to convicted French mass rapist Dominique Pelicot is on trial in Lyon, accused of drugging and raping his partner while filming the assaults and streaming them online.

Police investigating the murder of a young gay man in the eastern French city of Metz have said the case will now be treated as a homophobic crime, after protestations from rights groups and politicians.

Mexico and South Africa will launch the first 48-team football World Cup on Thursday with a game at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.

The abduction and killing of 11-year-old French schoolgirl Lyhanna has catapaulted child protection to the top of France's political agenda – with President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday calling for full accountability and the government pledging full transparency. As investigators examine possible failures by the justice system, child rights lawyer Dominique Attias tells RFI professionals have been warning for years that vulnerable children are not being protected.

Kenyan police shot dead a protester on Tuesday as hundreds demonstrated against a government-backed quarantine centre for Americans exposed to Ebola, with anger mounting over Nairobi's determination to press ahead with the facility.

Belfast anti-immigration protesters set vehicles and buildings on fire on Tuesday night, a day after a knife attack allegedly carried out by a Sudanese refugee seriously injured a man and was captured in a graphic video that spread widely online.