A year after the fall of El Fasher, Sudan's war has left a ghost town in its wake

A year after paramilitary forces at war with the Sudanese army captured the strategic city of El Fasher, survivors and aid workers report that the capital of North Darfur state remains largely abandoned. Some residents are too scared to return, while thousands are still missing – many held in deplorable conditions in overcrowded prisons.


Issued on: 01/11/2026 - RFI

In this satellite photo provided by Planet Labs PBC, El Fasher is seen from above on 26 October, 2025, as paramilitary forces seized control of the city after a siege that lasted months. © AP - Planet Labs PBC

On 26 October, 2025, after 500 days of siege, El Fasher fell to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), an armed group that has been fighting Sudan's army since April 2023.

It marked one of the darkest chapters of the conflict. The paramilitaries pledged to "cleanse" the city and explicitly called for the elimination of non-Arab communities – notably the semi-nomadic Zaghawa and the Fur, Darfur's largest ethnic group.

International investigators have found evidence of widespread atrocities, including mass killings and sexual violence. The United Nations has estimated that some 6,000 people were killed, but researchers studying satellite imagery suspect the death toll is much higher – in the tens of thousands.

According to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), nearly 100,000 people managed to flee. Thousands more civilians are missing, having died while trying to escape or been captured by the RSF.




In January, under the supervision of the city's new authorities, humanitarian organisations were able to visit El Fasher for the first time since the paramilitaries seized control. They described "a ghost town, with few civilians remaining".
Contested repopulation

"My house was destroyed," says Salwa, who did not want to be identified by her full name. Born in El Fasher, she fled a few days before the city fell.

"They smashed everything and threw all our things into the street. My father's house is still standing, but they've put people we don't know in it."

Like many residents who fled, she believes the new authorities are seeking to replace the city's original inhabitants – mainly Zaghawa and Fur – with members of nomadic Arab tribes, from which the RSF draws its leadership and most of its fighters.

Sudan's RSF paramilitaries accused of crimes against humanity in El Fasher

A screengrab from a video shared on the Rapid Support Forces' social media shows RSF fighters celebrating in the streets of El Fasher after capturing the city on 26 October, 2025. © AFP - -

"They're bringing in people from outside and giving them our homes. They're even giving them documents to prove they're the owners. These people will never leave. On top of that, they're filming them for propaganda and claiming that the residents of El Fasher have returned."

Tasis, a coalition of civilian and armed groups led by the RSF and governing in parallel from the city of Nyala in South Darfur, has called for displaced residents to go back to El Fasher and says it is helping civilians to return.

"These aren't residents of El Fasher, but people who were brought in to repopulate the city," Salwa protests.
Lingering trauma

Solidarités International, a French humanitarian organisation that has returned to work in El Fasher, estimates that between 40,000 and 60,000 people have either returned or come and go regularly, out of a pre-war population of at least 300,000.

"They come to seek aid, to see their neighbourhood, their home. They've heard that an NGO is here, that the paramilitary-linked government's humanitarian aid office is organising food distributions," Renaud Douci, the organisation's field coordinator in Sudan, told RFI.

But returnees are often put off by what they find, he said. "When the market where you used to get food is now a meagre affair with a few stalls and exorbitant prices, those aren't conditions under which you can return with your family."

Others are kept away by the memory of the siege. "For now, because of the trauma and violence of those 500 days, people don't feel at all ready to return," Douci said.

Women victims of Sudan's war bear scars of 'indescribable' violence

A displaced woman in Tawila, Darfur, pictured on 28 October, 2025, after fleeing El Fasher following the city's fall to the Rapid Support Forces. © AFP

Laura Mills, a researcher at Amnesty International, shares his assessment. "Only a fraction of the population has returned; people are too afraid," she told RFI.

"Humanitarian workers tell us there are pockets of houses still standing. And between each pocket, the streets are deserted. The city is still abandoned."

For her, the hesitation is understandable. "The residents of El Fasher are traumatised by what they've been through. Why would they return when the paramilitaries are still there and have never been held accountable for their actions? Why return when you risk being arrested and tortured at any moment?"
Prison of horror

The RSF took thousands of people prisoner during the capture of El Fasher: not only members of the armed forces but civilians – soldiers' families, teachers, doctors, journalists, civil society activists and others they accused of supporting the Sudanese army.

Ibrahim (not his real name), a journalist with El Fasher Radio and Television, was taken by the paramilitaries a few weeks before the city fell, according to his wife, who wanted to remain anonymous.

"One morning he went out to look for food, because at the time there was nothing left to eat. He left in the morning and didn't come back that evening or the next day," she told RFI.

A Sudanese man who says he was imprisoned and tortured in RSF prisons before fleeing El Fasher sits in a makeshift shelter in the town of Tawila in the Darfur region, 2 March 2026. © AFP - -

His wife believed he was wounded or dead until she learned that he had been captured by the RSF and sent to Dagris, a notorious prison outside Nyala that has been described as a "site of horror".

"The conditions were terrible," she said. "The detainees were crammed into small cells. Sometimes they would go entire weeks without seeing the sun. Occasionally, they'd be taken outside so they could air their belongings, dry their clothes and get rid of insects and fleas. And their toilets were right inside the cells. The sanitary conditions there are disgusting."

Sick, emaciated and having lost his sight in one eye, Ibrahim was finally released nine months later upon payment of $2,000. Numerous accounts report demands for ransom are common.

'They took my family'

According to human rights organisations, between 13,000 and 19,500 people were being held at Dagris earlier this year – several times the prison's official capacity of 4,500.

Zamzam, a journalist originally from the El Fasher region who now lives in exile, says her relatives were among them, arrested as punishment for her coverage of the conflict.

"The RSF contacted me to tell me to stop writing, they even offered me money. But I refused, so they took my family," she told RFI.

Her cousin, a doctor at a hospital in El Fasher who chose to stay throughout the offensive, remains incommunicado. Zamzam has heard only that he is working in construction.

"They use prisoners as labourers in construction, to do laundry, to clean the homes of RSF fighters' families," she claimed.

Conditions at Dagris prison are inhumane and in some cases life-threatening, according to Mohamed Faisal, a member of the Sudan Doctors Network.

"The detainees have no rights and no contact with their families," he said. "The cells are overcrowded. There are lots of diseases, such as cholera and dengue fever, and we are seeing a sharp rise in mortality. A few months ago, there were four deaths every week. And when prisoners die, their families aren't even notified."

An estimated 73 medical personnel are being held in Dagris and Kober, another prison in South Darfur, the network believes. Several journalists are also detained, including Muammar Ibrahim, a correspondent for Al Jazeera's Arabic news channel who had been covering the conflict since it began in April 2023.

Today, Darfur is almost entirely under the control of the paramilitary forces. The fighting has shifted to the Kordofan region, where the UN has warned El Fasher's grim history could be repeated.

This article was adapted from the original version in French by Alexandra Brangeon.

INTERVIEW


'Working in Russia is like being a deep-sea diver', BBC's man in Moscow tells RFI

How does one report, from its capital, on the reality of Russia at war? Based in Moscow for more than 30 years, the BBC's Russia correspondent Steve Rosenberg is one of the few Western journalists still working in the country. He spoke to RFI about his daily life as a reporter in Russia and why he has chosen to stay, despite the Kremlin's increasing hostility to foreign media.


Issued on:  02/11/2026 - RFI

Steve Rosenberg, the BBC's Russia correspondent since 2003, is one of the few Western journalists still working in the country. © BBC

Rosenberg is well known in Russia. The fame he has gained asking Russia's political leaders, including President Vladimir Putin, direct and unflinching questions during televised press conferences means he is often approached in the street – encounters he says are overwhelmingly positive.

"Very often, people come up to shake my hand or ask for a selfie... it says a lot about what's happening in the country," he said. "In my view, it shows that the massive wave of anti-Western propaganda disseminated by state media hasn't reached the entire population."

On a recent visit to France to attend the Bayeux Calvados-Normandy Award for War Correspondents – which held a screening of the BBC documentary Our Man in Moscow, following a year in Rosenberg's life reporting from Russia – he sat down with RFI.

RFI: How has it felt being out of Russia in Western Europe, in France?

Steve Rosenberg: Every time I leave Russia, which isn't very often, and arrive in Europe or go back home to the UK, I initially find it strange to step out of this bubble I live and work in. But I think it's important to leave Russia every few months, take a step back, and look at what's happening there from a distance before going back.

In a way, working in Russia today is a bit like being a deep-sea diver. You descend below the surface, into a very strange environment where the pressure is intense. After the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, I felt as if a huge wave had engulfed the Russia I knew.

And so, from time to time, it's important to surface – remove your regulator, if you like – and breathe before diving again. When I leave the country, I want to return because it fascinates me and I want to know what will happen. But it's important to release the pressure from time to time.

France ‘dismayed’ over Russia’s ban on Reporters Without Borders

RFI: You first arrived in Russia in 1991, initially to teach English, later becoming a BBC correspondent. Do you remember a moment when the Russia you knew truly changed? Was there a turning point, or was it something that unfolded gradually?

SR: When you're in the midst of a tornado, it's difficult to see everything that's happening. It's only in retrospect that you realise, "ah, that was the precise moment when something changed".

Looking back, I feel like I've known four different Russias. I saw the end of Soviet Russia – I spent a year studying in Moscow in 1990. So I experienced the last gasps of the Soviet Union. Then I witnessed its collapse in 1991.

And I saw 1990's Russia, the first decade of independent Russia, which was full of chaos, full of hope, as well, that Russia and the West were going to be friends, and this would be a new era of peace, but also an era of chaos, many Russians get impoverished, the wars in Chechnya..."

Then there was Putin's Russia, the first version. His rise to power in 2000 marked a different Russia. There were worrying signs from the start, but it seemed Putin wanted to improve relations with Europe and the West. The economy was growing. Oil prices were high. Then, gradually, the country became more authoritarian.

Finally, I've experienced post-2022 Russia, which I often call Z-Russia. The Z is one of the symbols of what the Kremlin calls the "special military operation" in Ukraine. It's a very different Russia, much more authoritarian, with more repressive laws. A country at war with its neighbour and with ever-increasing internal repression.

RFI: Were you surprised that Putin went so far as to invade Ukraine?

SR: Yes, absolutely. I didn't think he would make that decision. It was a belligerent show of force by the Kremlin. That day I was on air all day, until late into the night. When I finished my last live broadcast, I sat down and, for the first time, I truly grasped the magnitude of what had just happened. I understood that life would never be the same again. Not only for Russia, but also for Europe, for the West.

And I'm certain Putin didn't think it would be a war. I'm certain he must have been convinced that in a matter of days, or weeks at most, the Ukrainian government would collapse in Kyiv, a pro-Moscow regime would be installed and the whole thing would remain a military operation. But the authorities clearly miscalculated.

On a street in Moscow, a screen shows an image of Russian President Vladimir Putin behind an electronic board promoting contract military service in the Russian army, 19 December 2024. © Shamil Zhumatov / Reuters

RFI: Let's talk about how you do your job in Moscow for the BBC. You have to renew your visas and accreditations every three months, how does that affect the way you work?

SR: Previously, we received one-year visas and accreditations, multiple-entry visas... But since the invasion of Ukraine, journalists from so-called "unfriendly countries" only receive three-month visas. And the UK is on that list. So we have to renew our visas and accreditations every three months.

At first, as the expiration date approaches, you inevitably wonder if they will renew it or not. I imagine that's exactly how the authorities want us to feel. But I've come to understand that there's no point in worrying. I can't do anything if one day they decide not to renew my visa, I won't be able to influence their decision. So there's no point in worrying or keeping a suitcase packed.

RFI: Since 2022, you also have to think differently about the people you meet, where you meet them and how you interact with them. Tell us about that.

SR: We obviously have to think very carefully about who we talk to and who we put on air or show. After February 2022, a whole series of repressive laws were passed in Russia to silence dissenting voices and punish those critical of the authorities and the war. So we have an obligation to ensure the safety of the people we put on air.

When I conduct [interviews with ordinary people in the streets] I don't directly ask people: "are you for the war or are you against the war?", because that could get them into trouble. But there are many other questions that allow us to gauge public opinion and understand what's happening.

There are also places we can no longer go that we used to. For example, for the past two or three years, the BBC hasn't been granted permission to go to the Belgorod, Kursk, and Bryansk regions bordering Ukraine – where bombings and drone attacks obviously generate a lot of stories. Now you need special permission to go to these regions, which isn't being granted. We keep applying, but for now we can't go.

I read the Russian press and regularly publish a review of it, because the newspapers say a lot about what's happening in the country. Even in a highly controlled media environment, they reflect the developments taking place in Moscow. And the authorities can't accuse me of spreading propaganda if I report what's in the newspapers.

Headlines in Russia media on 22 February 2022, as Putin announced the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. © AP - Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr

RFI: Is it difficult now trying to convince people to talk to you?

SR: We used to have a very long list of contributors, experts and commentators we could contact to talk about all sorts of topics: culture, music, politics, economics. And then after 2022 – actually, this had started before the full-scale invasion – some people began refusing our interview requests. That long list became extremely short.

Some people are afraid to speak to the BBC. They don't want to risk being accused of associating with a major Western media outlet. Others have left the country.

What surprises me is that ordinary people always agree to talk to us in the street. Wherever we go, in cities, small towns or villages, we stop passersby. I always introduce myself, specifying that I work for the BBC. Of course, not everyone agrees to talk, but if you stop people on Oxford Street in London, not everyone will answer your questions either. Many people agree to talk to us, and that's encouraging.

RFI: Freedom of the press is virtually non-existent in Russia today. When you ask Putin a question during his annual December press conference, is the question sometimes more important than the answer?

SR: First of all, there's no guarantee I'll get the floor. But when I do have the opportunity, I know it's a huge responsibility. I have to think about the question I'm going to ask, and what the Russians watching live across the country will hear.

It's not easy because you rarely get a follow-up question – once the question is asked, they take the microphone away. But even a single question to Putin and a single answer can shed light on his way of thinking.

One time [after I had asked a question], the next day the security guard in our building said: "Steve, the question you asked our president yesterday is a question we're all asking ourselves." It teaches you something about what people are thinking.

I would love to be able to conduct a real interview with Putin. So far, my attempts have failed. I've interviewed [Belarusian President Aleksandr] Lukashenko twice, in lengthy sessions. He's a very different character from Putin. He answers everything and seems to enjoy a kind of duel during the interview.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin holds his annual end-of-year press conference in Moscow on 19 December 2025. © AFP - ALEXANDER KAZAKOV/POOL

RFI: Why do you think it's important to be there on the ground?

SR: Being there in person has real value. If you're not there, if there are no more foreign correspondents, everything becomes black or white. All Russians seem black, and the whole country too. But when you're there, we can see the nuances.

I'll give you an example. I was returning to Moscow after a reporting trip and we stopped at a petrol station about 200 kilometres from the city. I wanted to buy some biscuits. As I was approaching to pay, another customer recognised me. He came up to me and asked if I was a reporter. I replied yes. He told me: "I saw your reports somewhere, maybe on YouTube." And he said he wanted to pay for my biscuits. I told him he didn't have to, that it was very kind but not necessary. He insisted, and he paid. Then he came to shake my hand with a big smile before leaving. It's these small interactions that teach us a lot about what's going on.

It's not just about knowing what the president says and thinks, but also what ordinary Russians say and think.

RFI: You've been reporting from Russia for more than 25 years now. In Our Man in Moscow, you say you want to stay to tell the end of this story. Is it important for you to see it through to the end?

SR: Yes, I tell myself that all the time, but is it realistic? When will this story end? In a way, Russia resembles a vast Tolstoy novel – it's War and Peace. Unfortunately, more war than peace in this moment. We turn the pages wondering how the novel will end, but it seems to go on forever. It just keeps going. One Russia replaces another, then another.

This interview has been adapted from the original version by RFI's French service and edited for length and clarity.

France braces for fresh protests as students to resume school blockades

France is readying for another week of protests after the head of a student group said a campaign of high school blockades would restart Monday, ahead of a nationwide day of strikes and protests on Thursday.


Issued on: 02/11/2026 - RFI

A masked high school student holds a placard reading "Liberty, Equality, Fraternity. Except for us, apparently" during a blockade of the Lycee Voltaire high school in Paris on 6 October. REUTERS - Tom Nicholson

A nationwide day of strikes and protests across the public and private sectors is planned for Thursday.

The Union Etudiante (Student Union), said Saturday that blockades of universities and high schools would take place on both Tuesday and Thursday.

But some high schools will be blockaded from Monday, when students return from a two-week holiday, said Pierre Sourzat, head of the "Lyceens!" group.

"We're calling for blockades... starting on Monday ... that's the principle when you go on strike, it's to cause disruption," he told RMC radio on Sunday.

High school pupils began blockades in mid-September.

President Emmanuel Macron has called for classes to resume in a calm manner, arguing that "young people have been heard".

"No, we're not all going back to class," Sourzat said, "[the president] hasn't heard us, he's given us almost nothing."

'Smoke and mirrors'

Hundreds of thousands of people, including high school and university students, took to the streets across France on Saturday for a third consecutive weekend of protests over soaring prices, inequality and poor conditions in schools.

The movement emerged in mid-September with high school students angry over overcrowded classrooms, teacher shortages and dilapidated school buildings, which they blame on years of underinvestment.

Last Monday, the government announced a series of measures, including replacing the university admissions platform, known as Parcoursup, which is criticised for its lack of transparency, and providing loans for school renovations.

Sourzat said the proposed overhaul of Parcoursup failed to address the shortage of places in higher education.

He also dismissed the government's plan to reduce class sizes as insufficient, noting that it would apply only to 10th-grade classes.

"We were asking for all year groups," he said, describing the government's proposals as "smoke and mirrors".

"There's a bit of polish on the surface, but once you scratch beneath it, there's nothing there."

High school pupils block the lycée Buffon in Paris on 2 October. AFP - THOMAS SAMSON


Calls for action

France is the eurozone's second-largest economy but is struggling with mounting debt and the government has limited scope to appease student protesters through additional spending.

Several trade unions also say the government's proposals do not go far enough and are calling for a large turnout on Thursday.

"This time, we're close to concrete progress so that tomorrow can be better than today," Thomas Vacheron, a national official at the hardline CGT union told BFMTV.

The CGT wants an increase in the minimum wage, higher pay grades for civil servants and pay rises for all workers.

"The government must respond to the protests now. It's the one that holds the key," Vacheron said.

'Robust' security operation

Turnout at Saturday's protests was around 320,000, including 70,000 people in Paris, the Interior Ministry said, though organisers put the figure at half a million.

Interior Minister Laurent Nunez had warned that Saturday was a "high risk" day and deployed 70,000 police and gendarmes nationwide.

In Paris, the only authorised march was outside the city centre.

Police arrested 779 people, the interior ministry said on Sunday, adding there had been "no major incidents".

The operation helped avert a repeat of the widespread looting and vandalism seen on 17 October when more than 1,300 people were arrested and an estimated €1 billion of damage caused to shops and public property..

"The arrangements put in place, robust and flexible, allowed authorised demonstrations to take place, guaranteeing freedom of expression while preventing the actions of those who sought to make the marches degenerate," Nunez wrote on X.

Prosecutors announced Sunday they had launched an attempted murder probe after a petrol bomb was thrown at security forces during the protest in Paris, leaving one officer with second-degree burns.

Several hundred rioters had attacked security forces with projectiles, including a Molotov cocktail, the prefecture said.

(with newswires)

Calls mount to ban French TV channel following racist killing

A petition urging that a French television channel be taken off air gained traction on Monday, after accusations that far-right views it aired contributed to the racist killing of a black man.


Issued on: 02/11/2026 - RFI

A banner reads "Racism kills" during in a rally against racism in Trappes, outside Paris on 30 October, 2026. AFP - SIMON WOHLFAHRT

Anger against CNews – often described as France's answer to Fox News – has mounted with just six months to go before the country elects a new president, with far-right candidate Marine Le Pen leading in the polls to replace Emmanuel Macron.

The petition to shut down the channel was launched in June, but signatures spiked after a man on 23 October killed a Frenchman of Congolese origin and wounded seven others, including a child, in a racist attack in the Paris suburbs.

Contacts told French media he was an avid consumer of CNews, while leftist politicians have accused such media of giving too much airtime to anti-immigrant rhetoric.

The independent petition accusing CNews of being a "propaganda machine" on Monday surpassed 500,000 signatures on the National Assembly website. This means the issue could go to debate in the lower house, though this is not systematic.

CNews – among the media outlets owned by French ultra-conservative billionaire Vincent Bolloré – told French news agency AFP it would not comment on a "political petition".

It has previously denied allegations it promotes far-right views and racist tropes, saying it defends freedom of expression.

Paris suburb shooting suspect 'targeted Muslims, Africans or North Africans'

A 39-year-old man has been charged with murder and attempted murder over the 23 October attack in the towns of Trappes and La Verrière west of Paris in which he said he was "targeting individuals who appeared to be Muslim, African, or North African", a prosecutor has said.

Protesters at a rally a few days later in the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers held up posters reading slogans such as "CNews kills".

Two Green lawmakers have urged the lower house of parliament to withdraw accreditation for CNews to protect "democracy" from "racist hatred".

France earlier this year expelled Russian pundit Xenia Fedorova, who had been accused of peddling Kremlin propaganda on CNews.

The channel has also been accused of broadcasting racist comments about Bally Bagayoko, a Frenchman of Malian descent who is the mayor of the capital's largest suburb, Saint-Denis.

Protesters on 17 October threw projectiles and broke windows at the channel's Paris headquarters during cost-of-living protests.

(AFP)

 

What happens to the brain when you eat peanuts daily? New study reveals striking results

Copyright Brad Farris/AP

By Chaima Chihi & يورونيوز

Published on 30 October 2026 - EURONEWS

Does eating peanuts every day help to maintain memory as we get older?

A recent scientific study indicates that eating peanuts daily may help improve the brain's response to insulin in areas linked to memory in older adults.

The study was published in the journal "Food & Function", and was carried out by researchers from the medical centre at Maastricht University in the Netherlands, with the aim of examining the effect of regular peanut consumption on the brain's response to insulin with advancing age.

The experiment involved 31 healthy people aged between 60 and 75 years.

The participants ate 60 grams of roasted peanuts with their skins and without salt every day for 16 weeks, then the researchers compared the results with another period during which they did not eat peanuts.

Improved brain response to insulin

The results showed an improvement in the response of areas in the right hemisphere of the brain to insulin, including parts of the hippocampus, the parahippocampal gyrus, the lingual gyrus and the posterior cingulate gyrus, which are areas involved in memory processes and other cognitive functions.

To measure this response, the researchers gave the participants insulin through the nose, then used magnetic resonance imaging based on arterial blood labelling to measure changes in blood flow to brain regions.

Insulin plays a role in a number of brain processes linked to learning, memory and communication between nerve cells.

The brain's response to this hormone may become less effective with advancing age, a change that is associated with age related cognitive decline.

However, the researchers did not demonstrate that eating peanuts prevents cognitive decline or stops dementia from developing, but they observed changes in the response of specific brain regions to insulin.

These findings build on previous research by the same team on the same dietary intervention, published in the journal Clinical Nutrition in 2025, where the results showed a 3.6% increase in total blood flow to the brain, along with a 5.8% improvement in verbal memory after the 16 week intervention period.

The researchers believe that the nutritional composition of peanuts may explain some of these effects, as they contain unsaturated fats, fibre, vitamins, minerals and biologically active plant compounds, as well as plant protein.

Peanuts are also a source of the amino acid L-arginine, which the body uses to produce nitric oxide, a compound that helps regulate blood vessel functions and may in turn be linked to learning and memory processes.

Is eating peanuts enough to protect memory?

These findings still need further research to determine to what extent the recorded changes in the brain's response to insulin are reflected in memory and mental performance.

The experiment was limited to 31 people, and the indicators observed by the researchers are not enough to state with certainty that peanuts provide protection from Alzheimer's or other dementia disorders.

Conducting studies on larger numbers of participants and following them for longer periods would help to clarify this relationship and determine whether the potential benefits continue over time.

 

Canadian minister stops short of endorsing EU carbon tax as energy alliance deepens

Copyright AP Photo / The Canadian Press / Christinne Muschi

By Marta Pacheco

Published on 2 November 2026 - EURONEWS

The Canadian climate Minister's reluctance to openly commit to cooperation with the EU on its climate policy stems from the fact that Ottawa is effectively seeking an exemption from the bloc's carbon border tax, according to a December 2025 internal document seen by Euronews.

Canadian Climate and Environment Minister Julia Dabrusin has defended industrial carbon pricing as a tool to cut CO2 emissions and protect businesses from unfair competition, but stopped short of explicitly endorsing the European Union's carbon border tax.

"Industrial carbon pricing is important in a low-carbon economy, which is where the world is going. But these are conversations for us to have (...) those are conversations that are still to be had," Dabrusin told Euronews.

Opposition to the EU's carbon border tax — the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) — could expose potential limits to a budding energy alliance between Brussels and Ottawa, as the transatlantic partners embark on a new path of cooperation, hailed at the Montreal summit on 29-30 October.

But when asked whether Canada would back CBAM — which came into effect in January 2026 and imposes a carbon cost on certain imports to protect European producers from competitors operating under weaker climate rules — Minister Dabrusin offered no explicit endorsement.

Dabrusin's reluctance to commit to cooperation with the EU on its climate policy stems from the fact that Ottawa is effectively seeking an exemption from the bloc's carbon border tax, according to a December 2025 internal document seen by Euronews.

"Canada continues to seek a practical agreement with the EU to reduce CBAM's administrative burden for Canadian exporters, and the Prime Minister's Personal Representative to the European Union is fully engaged," the internal document from Canada's trade and foreign affairs ministries reads.

At the closing press conference on 30 October, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said that "a series of trade issues that had been bubbling along" had been discussed, but stopped short of sharing details.

"We are working together to find common solutions (on CBAM and other trade issues)," Carney told reporters on 30 October.

Carney has been attempting to diversify Canadian trade away from its heavy dependence on Washington, making access to the EU market increasingly important.

However, the Canadian document identifies CBAM as a potential obstacle to expanding exports to Europe, particularly in aluminium, steel, critical minerals and hydrogen.

"Canadian exports are not exempt from CBAM and exporters will face carbon charges and complex administrative requirements that could create market access risks and potential competitiveness challenges in the EU market," the document reads.

Lobbying for an exemption

Canada does not qualify for an exemption, despite its existing carbon-pricing policies and close trade relationship with the EU under the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), according to the document.

Nonetheless, Ottawa wants Brussels to recognise its domestic carbon-pricing system as sufficiently comparable to the EU's to reduce the administrative and financial burden on Canadian businesses.

Although the legal obligation falls on EU importers, critics argue that such requirements and costs are likely to be passed on to exporters through commercial agreements.

Stephanie Kusie, the Canadian Conservatives' shadow minister for international trade, also raised concerns about how the EU's CBAM could affect businesses.

"Canada is facing an EU carbon tariff in the coming months that could affect $3 billion in Canadian exports. Instead of fixing the issue, the PM has spent months distracting Canadians with talk of the EU," said Kusie.

Between 2021 and 2024, Canadian exports of goods covered by the EU's carbon border mechanism averaged C$28 billion a year, representing 7.4% of Canada's exports to the bloc, according to the document.

Relate

Minister Dabrusin said the Canadian government supports industrial carbon pricing, which it has had in place for years and intends to strengthen.

Dabrusin argued that industrial carbon pricing was among the most effective ways to reduce emissions while keeping businesses competitive in a global economy shifting towards lower-carbon production.

However, despite having its own industrial carbon-pricing system, Canada is not exempt from the EU's carbon border levy. Under the bloc's rules, a full exemption is linked to participation in, or a connection with, the EU Emissions Trading System — a condition Canada does not currently meet.

Moreover, the EU's carbon price is significantly higher than Canada's domestic carbon price trajectory.

Battle of semantics over EU-Canada relations

The EU-Canada summit took place as the EU seeks to build a network of trusted economic partners amid souring relations with the United States, which have become more uncertain under Donald Trump's administration.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told the EU-Canada summit that Ottawa aims to become an associate member by June next year.

However, divergences over the nature of this renewed relationship have been voiced by several member states, led by Germany, particularly over the definition of associate membership. EU leaders agreed to define the concept by the 2027 summit.

Dabrusin told Euronews that, for Canada, delivering on substance rather than semantics was important.

"The main thing for us is deepening the relationship with the EU (...) The conversations we had today underlined how much we have in common in terms of interests and values, and these are things we can build on as we launch the Alliance for the Future," Minister Dabrusin said.

 

China’s record-breaking clean tech exports could cut CO2 emissions by 8,400 million tonnes - report

Copyright AP Photo/Anton L. Delgado

By Angela Symons with AP

Published on 2 November 2026 - EURONEWS

Clean tech is growing "much faster than anyone predicted just a few years ago” as gas prices continue to soar.

China is exporting a record amount of clean energy technology and equipment as the energy crisis from the Iran war drives surging demand for renewables. This will help reduce global emissions, according to a report released on 29 October.

Once installed or deployed, these 2026 exports will likely avert emissions of about 450 million tonnes of carbon dioxide per year, roughly equal to Brazil’s annual emissions, says the analysis by the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA).

It's a small sign of progress as global efforts to curb climate change fall short. In November, Türkiye will host annual UN climate talks where electrification is expected to be a leading topic.

"This is a pivot point for the outlook of global energy and global emissions," says Lauri Myllyvirta, with CREA. “We’re seeing growth in clean energy that is much, much faster than anyone predicted just a few years ago.”

Record-breaking year for Chinese exports

China is by far the largest global supplier of renewable energy equipment, from solar panels and wind turbines to electric vehicles and batteries. Most of what it makes is sold domestically, but a sizeable share is exported

In the first nine months of 2026, CREA tracked a 61 per cent increase in exports of electric vehicles, a 45 per cent jump in shipments of wind turbines, a 39 per cent spike in battery exports and 22 per cent growth in overseas sales of solar equipment, compared to the same period last year.

Southeast Asia was a major destination. China's clean energy exports to the region jumped nearly 160 per cent from last year to this September, according to Ember, an independent global energy think tank.

The value of China's electric vehicle exports hit $72.8 billion (€65bn) in the first nine months of this year, up from $39.7 billion (€35.5bn) last year, according to the research firm Atlas Public Policy.

A visitor inspects the interior of a BYD car during an exhibition organised by the Indonesian Electric Vehicle Industry Association in Tangerang, Indonesia, Oct. 29, 2026. AP Photo/Tatan Syuflana

Chinese clean tech dents emissions

If these export trends continue for the rest of 2026, about 8,400 million tonnes of carbon dioxide will be averted over the lifetime of all the clean tech China exported this year, CREA estimates.

That's about 24 per cent of annual global emissions, more than the United States' and India's emissions combined.

The analysis by CREA is based on export data, the electricity systems in destination countries and Chinese emissions during manufacturing. Independent experts said the estimate was in line with the scale of China's exports, but were unable to validate the data.

Despite President Donald Trump's higher tariffs, Chinese clean tech exports to the US rose 13 per cent in January-September compared to a year earlier.

“The demand is much stronger than I expected,” Myllyvirta says. “That’s certainly noteworthy.”

China is both the world's biggest provider of clean tech equipment and the largest global source of carbon emissions.

Muyi Yang, a senior policy analyst at Ember, likens China's energy transition to replacing the engine of a ship while it's still at sea.

Installers haul a solar panel onto the roof of a home in Manila, Philippines, on April 30, 2026. AP Photo/Anton L. Delgado

Interest in renewables likely to persist, experts say

The drastic war-related disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, usually the source for a fifth of the world’s oil and gas, hit import-dependent Asian countries first and hardest.

Renewed interest in clean energy options is likely to persist even after the war, says Yu Sun Chin, with the research group Zero Carbon Analytics.

Consumers in Southeast Asia are paying more for their electricity and fuel and opting for renewable alternatives such as rooftop solar.

Laos, Thailand and Vietnam have offered various incentives for installing solar and purchasing electric vehicles to help reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels.

The Philippines implemented similar policies and became the second-largest destination for Chinese solar exports in the first quarter of 2026. Indonesia has pledged to install 100 gigawatts of solar power by 2029.

“The surge in clean energy policies in Southeast Asia shows there is a paradigm shift happening,” Chin says. “Considering Southeast Asia is one of the most vulnerable regions to climate impacts, every emission cut matters in limiting a rise in global temperatures.”

 

Bolivia declares national emergency over El Niño as drought hits over 78,000 families

Copyright AP Photo

By Christina Thykjaer

Published on 2 November 2026 - EURONEWS

Drought is already affecting more than 78,000 families in seven regions of the country.

Grappling with both flooding and drought, Bolivia has declared a national emergency over El Niño.

Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz declared a state of emergency on 31 October to free up resources for dealing with the impacts of the weather phenomenon.

The measure will make it possible to mobilise financial and human resources, as well as to coordinate the work of national institutions with international cooperation in order to assist the affected areas.

"Unlike in other years, when we waited for this blow from the environment to arrive, we have taken a decision, with international cooperation and national efforts, to pool financial and human resources to deal with this phenomenon", Paz explained in a message to the population.

More than 78,000 families affected by drought

The situation is already particularly worrying in the regions suffering from water shortages. According to data from the Vice Ministry of Civil Defence, at least 78,200 families have been affected by the drought in seven of the country’s nine departments. The affected regions are La Paz, Oruro, Potosí, Cochabamba, Chuquisaca, Tarija and Santa Cruz. In addition, 63 communities have declared a drought, while others are preparing for possible flooding.

The president has warned that the country could face a combination of extreme events, with a lack of rainfall in some areas and intense rain in others. "This will be a phenomenon that will hit very hard, with both drought and flooding," said the head of state, who called on public administrations and citizens to work together to limit the damage.

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• A year ahead of the ‘wrecking ball’: Scientists find new clue to predict when El Niño will strike

A decree to anticipate extreme events

The emergency decree covers the risks associated with El Niño during the 2026-2027 period, among them droughts, floods, frosts, hailstorms, forest fires and river overflows. The declaration of emergency is intended to facilitate a coordinated response between the different levels of government and to strengthen support for the most vulnerable communities.

El Niño is a natural climate phenomenon linked to warming of the waters of the equatorial Pacific, which disrupts rainfall and temperature patterns in different parts of the world. In Bolivia it can cause periods of drought and episodes of intense rainfall, with consequences for the population, agriculture and livestock.