Spotlight on France

How France shifted its approach to heatwaves after nearly 15,000 people died in the summer of 2003. An urban planning concept gets picked up by conspiracy theorists. And the first TGV that started France's expansion of high-speed rail travel. The world has just had its hottest three months on record. But France's worst heatwave in memory was 20 years ago, in 2003. In August that year nearly 15,000...

As the dust settles on a week of intense urban violence triggered by the police shooting of a young man in the northern working-class suburb of Nanterre, we look at the causes and what, if anything, has changed in these poorer, multi-racial neighbourhoods since the 2005 riots. What role has police violence played in the worsening relations between the state and banlieues residents? And the life an...

How Rouen, a city on the Seine, far from the open sea, became France's largest grain port; denim production returns to its place of birth in Nimes; and the story of Alice Guy, the world's first woman director, forgotten by history.  French wheat exports got a boost with the war in Ukraine , and most are shipped out of Rouen, a port on the Seine, 100 kilometres away from the open sea. Manuel Gabori...

How to get New Caledonians talking to each other; the incompatibility of being gay and a football player in France, and the naval officer who turned his world travels into fiction. In the face of political deadlock over the status of the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, pro-independence and loyalist parties are struggling to even talk to one another.  Caledonian journalist and writer  J...

The village of Oradour-sur-Glane continues to memorialise the massacre of 643 of its inhabitants by the Nazis in 1944. Are shortages of an abortion drug in France linked to the anti-abortion movement in the United States? And the French doctor who helped identify HIV in the early days of the Aids epidemic. On 10 June 1944, Nazi troops   entered the buccolic village of Oradour-sur-Glane in central...

Why French unions are so prominent despite record low membership. How Tintin defied critiques of racism, sexism and anti-Semitism to remain one of France's favourite comic strip characters. And the 1920 beauty pageant that evolved into Miss France, watched by millions each year.  France's leading trade unions have seen a recent increase in membership after organising weeks of strikes and protests...

France's pioneering 2017 law that made French-based multinational companies responsible for human rights and environmental violations wherever they do business. Also, a Franco-Vietnamese theatre director brings Vietnamese history to life on stage. And the first same-sex marriage remembered 10 years after it became legal. The collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh a decade ago led...

France's evolving relationship with China; allowing women time off for period pain; and why artist Pablo Picasso never became French. France has historically had good relations with China, but as Europe has been looking to distance itself from the People's Republic, France has had to follow suit. RFI's  Jan van der Made talks about French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to China this week , and...

Is the French government denying people their democratic rights by passing its controversial pension reform without a vote in parliament? No, says a constitutional expert, but it has led to a political crisis. Fighting eco-anxiety by searching out France's eco-optimists. And a Napoleonic law that limited how you could name your child. France's last remaining hostage, journalist Olivier Dubois, is...

How French farmers are adapting since the war in Ukraine halted grain and seed exports. Why we need to buy fewer clothes if we want the fashion industry to be sustainable. And the voice of Ernest Renan – one of the big thinkers of 19th century France, famed for his biography of Jesus. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has led to a drop in grain exports around the world, as Ukraine was a major producer...

How French educators are grappling with new AI-based technology, like ChatGPT, and how it will affect teaching, evaluating and learning. Voltuan, the most-recognised man on French demos, talks about life as a full-time activist. And the 17th century origins of France's pension system.  Faced with a growing number of students in France submitting papers written by the chatbot ChatGPT, the prestigio...

A majority of French people disapprove of the government proposal to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64-years-old. Women could come off worse than men, and it will involve addressing senior employment, which France does not do particularly well. And how the Paris Peace Accords, marking a temporary end to the Vietnam war, were signed 50 years ago in the French capital. The French government's p...

Long-awaited recognition for France's colonial infantry corps. Who are the French victims of the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange? Napoleon III's transformation of France. The "tirailleurs Senegalais" – riflemen from former French colonies in west Africa who fought in the French army – will be allowed  to claim their French state pensions  while living permanently in their countries of...

Unpicking France's win against Morocco in World Cup semi-final; finding "ethical" alternatives to force-fed foie gras; and why it's worth reading Marcel Proust, 100 years after his death. After France beat Morocco in the World Cup semi-final, Paul Myers looks at whether it makes sense to see it as a face-off between Morocco and its former colonial power, and what a win in the final against Argenti...

As France's parliament passes a bill that would enshrine the right to abortion in the constitution, a new film explores the time before it was legalised in 1975. The curator of Père Lachaise in Paris on life and biodiversity in France's most famous cemetery. And Walt Disney's 11th-century French roots. France might be on the way to becoming the first country to have abortion rights protected in th...

A north-south divide over bullfighting, which holds an important cultural spot in many parts of southern France, but which opponents say is animal cruelty. A French climate activist on why blocking roads and interrupting opera performances is the only way to get attention. And the 9th-century Viking attack on Paris. The bullfighting tradition is long and strong in many parts of southern and south-...

A Paris art gallery embraces NFTs as a new form of expression, that can also make collectors very rich. A biopic of Simone Veil disappoints critics but brings the life of an inspirational woman to a new generation. And the story of the "father of forensic science" whose landmark fingerprint technology caught a murderer for the first time in 1902. The NFT market is rife with speculation, though the...

As the French National Assembly gets younger and more female, some lawmakers say it's time MPs on maternity leave were replaced. Opera singers bring love, tragedy and dialogue to French city streets with free concerts in unexpected places. And the man behind Paris' Wallace fountains, which turn 150 this year. France has a reputation for supporting new parents, with fully-paid maternity leave and a...

France's fascination with Queen Elizabeth II and the British monarchy; being a Russian artist in France in the wake of the Ukraine war; a Parisien house marks two decades of helping journalists in exile. Some seven million French people watched coverage of the funeral of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II on Monday, that ended nearly two weeks of mourning and accolades for the British royal family. Fran...

As France faces an energy crisis, opposition to wind turbines is slowing a shift to renewables. Making sheep cheese in the land of Roquefort. The Revolutionary origins of the left-right political divide. France has warned about power cuts this winter  after Russia cut off gas supplies to most of Europe in response to sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine. While France's nuclear-heavy energy...

Another summer special, where we look back on what has been called the world's first green hydrogen production plant. And a first-hand account of gay conversion therapy, which has since become a crime in France. Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com , iTunes (link here) , Spotify (link here) , Google podcasts (link here) , or your favourite pod...

A special summer episode, in which we update last October's conversation with Jacqueline Jencquel, a member of the French Association for the right to die with dignity (ADMD). She talks about planning her own death and what needs to change in French law. Also, from the archives, a look at pastry chefs preparing Christmas cakes... in August. Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France Intern...

Reflecting on the end of the trial of those involved in the 2015 Paris attacks; developing quidditch in France, where some are wary of a sport involving a broom between the legs. And the day that Haiti was forced to pay its former slave masters for its independence. The trial of the 20 men involved in the 2015 terror attacks in Paris, which left 130 people dead, ended this week after nearly ten mo...

France's famously good public healthcare system is in crisis, as emergency services warn of shutdowns over the summer due to lack of staff. Graduates of prestigious AgroParisTech university make waves by turning their backs on an industry they say is "waging war on the living world". The annual Fête de la musique all-day music festival turns 40.  French hospital A&E services are threatening to shu...