Ukraine's allies on Monday pledged to keep up their support in the war against Russia, with a renewed focus on air defence investment to counter a shortage of US Patriot interceptors.

A leading group monitoring and providing aid to migrants crossing the Mediterranean have warned that its rescue ships have been facing increasing threats and harassment from Libyan groups.

French centre-left politician Raphael Glucksmann has announced his candidacy for next year's presidential election, seeking to challenge hard-left leader Jean-Luc Melenchon to lead France's fractured left, as a campaign increasingly dominated by the far right takes shape.

The Democratic Republic of Congo government and the M23 rebel group have agreed on a roadmap for peace talks aimed at resolving the protracted conflict in eastern DRC. It marks the latest step in an internationally brokered peace process that has seen the parties make cautious concessions, without ending the fighting.

An amateur animated film has become a surprise box-office hit in China, fuelling a wider debate about cinema, artificial intelligence and audience tastes. Made by a mother-and-son team on a shoestring budget, Niu Lai went from commercial failure to viral sensation after attracting a wave of negative reviews.

Rising seas and coastal erosion are exposing the graves of enslaved people on beaches in the French Caribbean departments of Martinique and Guadeloupe, bringing long-buried remains back into view. Archaeologists say the retreating coastline is revealing new information about people who were enslaved centuries ago, but also destroying sites of historical and cultural importance.

Dozens of former senior French and UK diplomats on Saturday urged their governments to work together to uphold international law in the Palestinian territories, accusing Israel of seeking to "destroy" any prospect of a viable Palestinian state.

Repeated heatwaves and drought have made it a punishing summer for French farmers – scorching pastures, straining livestock and driving up costs. With grass disappearing from fields, cattle farmers across the country are already dipping into fodder meant to feed their herds through winter.

The French government has scrapped plans to double the annual ceiling on out-of-pocket charges for medicines, medical appointments and other healthcare, after criticism from patient groups and health professionals. The cap was due to rise from €100 to €200, but the government will instead pursue a smaller increase linked to inflation.

France has joined Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom in calling on Israel to halt the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank and immediately withdraw tenders issued this week for more than 1,200 new homes under the controversial E1 project.

A deadly landslide at a gold mine on the Cameroon-Central African Republic border has triggered calls for greater oversight of mining operations, after dozens of people were killed and many more were reported missing.

Emergency helicopter landings at Strasbourg University Hospitals have been suspended over the risk of collision with drones used to illegally deliver items to inmates in a nearby prison. The hospital says the resulting detour could be "life-threatening" for patients.

Two French journalists detained in Togo since late July have been placed in pre-trial detention and charged with "false statements", Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said, calling for their immediate release.

Twenty years after toxic waste from the cargo ship Probo Koala was dumped across Abidjan in Côte d'Ivoire, the disaster remains an open wound for many victims and a symbol of wealthy countries sending unwanted waste to Africa.

Yvette Roudy, France's first women's rights minister and a leading figure in the country's feminist movement, has died at the age of 97.

France will expel two Iranian diplomats in the coming days in response to the banning of two staff of French embassy in Tehran, the foreign minister has said.

Europe’s relentless summer heat has raised fresh questions about what is driving repeated extremes across the continent and whether exceptional summers could become the norm.

More than 670,000 French taxpayers are being notified that their personal and tax information has been stolen in cyber attacks on the French tax office and allegedly sold online.

Frenchman Kevin Lamour has left his role as Fifa's chief operating officer after criticising president Gianni Infantino's scrapped private investor plan, world football's governing body confirmed Monday.

Extreme weather across much of Europe and elsewhere is lending added weight to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (Cop17), which begins on Monday in Mongolia. RFI looks at what's at stake worldwide.

France and Saudi Arabia on Monday signed a memorandum of understanding for a six-billion-euro ($7 billion) Saudi investment to create three theme parks near Paris, including one likely to be manga-themed, the office of the French president said.

Six million people in Somalia are facing acute hunger, with nearly two million children at emergency levels, as severe drought, conflict and falling humanitarian funding deepen what the UN describes as one of the world’s worst malnutrition crises. Medical charity MSF tells RFI it's sounding the alarm "before it's too late".

Countries allied with Ukraine in its war with Russia are meeting on Monday to reaffirm support for Kyiv and discuss how to pressure Moscow to halt its invasion, in talks held symbolically on Ukraine's independence day. French President Emmanuel Macron will co-chair the gathering of the so-called "Coalition of the Willing" via video link.

Conservationists and Maasai communities are calling for urgent answers as paralysis-like symptoms spread among elephants in Kenya's Amboseli National Park, with competing theories emerging over what is causing their deaths.

Togo's government says it has "serious and consistent evidence" against two French documentary filmmakers detained since July on charges of making false statements. Gaël Mocaër and Sebastian Perez Pezzani were arrested along with their Togolese fixer, Fred Vedomey, and have denied wrongdoing.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Saturday announced Paris would deliver new interceptor missiles to Ukraine, with Kyiv's air defences running short after the latest round of deadly Russian attacks.

The forest of Fontainebleau outside Paris has partially reopened to the public after remaining off-limits for over a month due to devastating wildfires. From Saturday, visitors can access some 80 percent of the forest, but are being warned to show caution amid fragile wildlife and charred trees.

Fears of another military mobilisation are driving an increasing number of Russians to look at exiting the country, an emigration support platform has told RFI, nearly four years after Moscow called up 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine.

The Ebola outbreak raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo is growing "exponentially", with more than 2,500 deaths recorded and half of those in the last 20 days, the senior UN coordinator on the disease said Friday.

Record-breaking heatwaves, drought and wildfires are driving a surge in eco-anxiety across France, with some sufferers "paralysed" by panic attacks, unable to work and, in the most severe cases, experiencing suicidal thoughts.

On World Mosquito Day, attention remains focused on the devastating impact of the disease in Africa. The continent accounts for 95 per cent of malaria-related deaths worldwide. Five years after the roll-out of the first malaria vaccine, it is beginning to deliver measurable results – although significant challenges remain.

Talks aimed at ending the war between Israel and Gaza hit an impasse this week, with the United States playing mediator between the two parties. Amjad Iraqi, a senior Israel-Palestine analyst with the International Crisis Group, tells RFI there remain major issues that the US-backed roadmap to peace does not address.

The heatwave in France in July caused more than 1,200 deaths, bringing to 7,300 the provisional toll from extreme temperatures this year, even as the summer is not over.

Liberia has announced it will receive up to 1,200 foreign nationals deported from the United States – one of the largest known deals struck with African countries as part of President Donald Trump's unprecedented bid to drive out undocumented migrants.

Desertification is not the spread of deserts. It is the slow degradation of fertile land – a process that now affects 40 percent of the Earth's land surface and leaves around 100 million hectares of healthy land unproductive every year. As governments gather in Mongolia this week for the UN's Cop17 desertification summit, scientists say restoring soil health is becoming critical for food security, livelihoods and climate resilience.

Campaigning kicks off in Nigeria Wednesday, five months ahead of elections set to be dominated by crushing inflation and President Bola Tinubu's economic reforms.

Liechtenstein has announced a change in its order of succession, doing away with male heir priority and giving women equal rights to the throne.

Zambia's electoral commission has announced that Hakainde Hichilema has been re-elected President after a race that critics said was tightly managed by his government.

Iran has said ​that two French embassy employees who were briefly detained last month following a ​diplomatic dispute will not be allowed to return to Iran.

Nearly three weeks after a mass border crossing brought tens of thousands of migrants into Spain's North African enclave of Ceuta, thousands remain stranded in precarious conditions, Maria Jimenez, spokesperson for the NGO Elin, told RFI. She said many still lack adequate shelter, food and medical care.

The acting head of the Malian government, General Abdoulaye Maiga has begun a two-day visit to Algeria. It comes amid a thaw after months of tension. RFI spoke to Bakary Sambe, the Director of the Timbuktu Institute about the security situation and what the countries hope to gain from the meeting.

Healthcare workers in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been coming under attack, the United Nations and Red Cross have warned, hampering efforts to stem the spread of the Ebola virus, which is spreading 'exponentially'.

France produces 20,000 tonnes of honey each year, but successive heatwaves and persistent drought across Europe this summer are impacting bee populations as flowering plants dry out and colonies struggle to find food. Beekeeper Romain Lacotte and his family farm 1,000 hives in Haute-Corrèze, central France, an area considered one of the country's natural water towers. But even there, he tells RFI, high temperatures and lack of rain are taking their toll.

Instead of celebrating her son's birthday this month, Zimbabwean mother Rodwin Chitewere spent the day praying for his body to be brought home from Russia, where he was reportedly killed fighting Moscow's war against Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron will host Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Sunday for a two-day official visit, as Paris looks to deepen ties with Riyadh against a backdrop of war in the Middle East.

An isolated village in Norway sees its peaceful veneer upset by the arrival of a new family in Fjord, the Palme d'Or-winning film released in French cinemas this week. Inspired by real-life cases, Romanian director Cristian Mungiu explores questions of domestic violence, religion, culture and tolerance through a story that asks whose version of the truth can be trusted.

Tensions between Turkey and Israel have intensified after an Israeli airstrike targeted a Syrian military airbase near the Turkish border. The strike came days after Turkey’s new military pact with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

On 21 August, 1986, 1,746 people died from carbon dioxide poisoning after gas escaped overnight from the bottom of Lake Nyos in Cameroon. RFI examines what happened in the world's deadliest "limnic eruption" and how, 40 years later, our understanding of the danger posed by volcanic lakes is still evolving.

Cameroon’s President Paul Biya has returned to the country after spending 73 days abroad, ending an unusually long absence that has intensified speculation around the 93-year-old’s health and raised questions over Cameroon's political future.

The UN's most powerful body, the Security Council, meets Friday to hold another straw poll to gauge the popularity of a growing field of contenders to lead the embattled organisation.

Palestinian families remained trapped in their homes in the occupied West Bank village of Qusra for an 11th day on Thursday, in a case that has drawn condemnation from US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee and become a symbol of growing settler violence in the territory.

Spain will open temporary shelters for up to 1,800 migrants in Ceuta, its enclave in Morocco, as authorities tackle the humanitarian crisis resulting from tens of thousands of people attempting to enter the territory last month. The government is also preparing to transfer 500 unaccompanied migrant girls to mainland Spain, despite opposition from Ceuta authorities.

Drought and heatwaves have pushed French winegrowers to start picking grapes weeks ahead of schedule, with this year seeing some of the earliest harvests on record – a sign of how climate change is reshaping the wine calendar across the country.

Russian politician and prominent Kremlin critic Boris Nadezhdin was forced to flee Russia when he found himself barred from running for election and facing imprisonment. Two weeks after arriving in Paris, he spoke to RFI about the circumstances of his exile.

Singer Angélique Kidjo has become the first black African performer to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – telling RFI the honour represented “a door opening” at a time of global turmoil.

Mosquito control operations are being stepped up across southwestern France after more than 20 locally contracted cases of the chikungunya virus were recorded since the beginning of August, with infections reported in three departments.

The Democratic Republic of Congo’s latest Ebola outbreak has become the deadliest in the country’s history, surpassing the devastating 2018–2020 epidemic even as health authorities warn that the current outbreak is yet to reach its peak.

Sophie Adenot is set to become the first French woman to perform a spacewalk, carrying out a mission to repair a communications system on the International Space Station.

French Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu on Monday announced aid worth €12 million to help residents of the southwest hit by wildfires rebuild their lives. He was heckled earlier in the day by dozens of locals in the town of Le Porge in the Gironde region, who said they were unhappy with the government's response.

Cameroon claimed a first Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) title when they beat Malawi 3-0 in Sunday's final in Morocco, with Marie Ngah Manga’s first-half double helping the the Indomitable Lionesses seal victory.