Former Israeli ambassador and French historian urge Macron to sanction Israel

Two prominent voices with deep ties to Israel and the Middle East are urging President Emmanuel Macron to back up his announcement that France will recognise Palestinian statehood with concrete action over the crisis in Gaza.


Issued on: 06/08/2025 - RFI

A protest against Benjamin Netanyahu's government in Tel Aviv on 5 July 2025 calls for the end of the war and immediate release of hostages held by Hamas. AP - Ohad Zwigenberg

Former Israeli ambassador to France Elie Barnavi and historian Vincent Lemire have called on Macron to impose sanctions on Israel, underlining the “absolute urgency” of such action given the worsening humanitarian crisis.

“Mr President, if immediate sanctions are not imposed on Israel, you will end up recognising a cemetery. We must act now to ensure food and medical aid can reach Gaza at scale,” they wrote, in an opinion piece published in the French newspaper Le Monde on Tuesday.

They argued that only firm and tangible sanctions would influence Israeli public opinion – and, by extension, the country's government – "to end the famine, to achieve a lasting ceasefire, to secure the release of all hostages, to protect Palestinians in the West Bank, to save Israel from itself".

France to recognise Palestinian statehood, defying US-Israel backlash

No excuse for 'inaction'

Barnavi and Lemire also dismissed the idea that a lack of European consensus is a valid excuse for inaction, pointing to the diplomatic momentum created on 24 July when Macron announced France’s intention to recognise a Palestinian state at the United Nations General Assembly in September – an initiative since supported by the United Kingdom, and Canada among others.

“You have the opportunity to lead a coalition of willing European states. This is a moment for leadership – and for urgency,” they said, going on to highlight the Israeli parliament’s recent vote in favour of annexing the West Bank, which passed by 71 votes to 13.

The pair also criticised what they see as “double standards” within the European Union, noting that while 18 rounds of sanctions have been imposed on Russia, none have targeted Israel.

Yet, they argue, sanctions on Israel would likely prove “immediately effective” due to the country's geographic and economic vulnerability.

“Mr President, don’t mistake diplomatic fanfare for facts on the ground. Since your announcement on 24 July, the diplomatic landscape may have shifted – but conditions in Gaza remain unchanged,” they warned. “The promise of recognition has never put food on anyone’s plate.”

Barnavi served as Israel’s ambassador to France from 2000 to 2002. Lemire is a professor of history at the University of Paris-Est Gustave-Eiffel and formerly headed the French Research Centre in Jerusalem, from 2019 to August 2023.

DAUBING IS NOT VIOLENT

Israeli airline's Paris offices daubed with red paint, slogans

Paris (AFP) – Red paint and slogans were daubed at the entry to the offices of national Israeli airline El Al in Paris, with Israel Thursday urging French authorities to take action over the "barbaric act".


Issued on: 08/08/2025 -

The offices were daubed with red paint © STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP



Anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian slogans and inscriptions, including "Free Palestine" and "El Al Genocide Airline", were written on the entrance which, along with the pavement, was also daubed with red paint overnight Wednesday to Thursday.

"I condemn the barbaric and violent act against El Al and expect the law enforcement authorities in France to locate the criminals and take strong action against them," Israel's Transport Minister Miri Regev wrote on X.

The act was the result of announcements by President Emmanuel Macron that "make gifts to" Palestinian militant group Hamas, she added -- an apparent reference to his announcement last month that France plans to recognise a Palestinian state.

Israel's ambassador to France Joshua Zarka, visiting the scene, described the vandalism as an "act of terrorism" that aims to "terrorise El Al employees, terrorise Israeli citizens, scare them and try to make them feel that they are not welcome."

According to El Al, quoted by Israeli TV channel N12, "the incident occurred while the building was empty and there was no danger to the company's employees.

"El Al proudly displays the Israeli flag on the tail of its aircraft and condemns all forms of violence, particularly those based on anti-Semitism," the national airline added.

French Transport Minister Philippe Tabarot condemned the "acts of vandalism" on X, saying that "acts of hatred and antisemitism have no place" in France.

Authorities have opened an investigation into acts of property damage committed on the grounds of race, ethnicity, nationality or religion, Paris's public prosecutor's office told AFP.

In early June, several Jewish sites in Paris were sprayed with green paint. Three Serbs were charged and placed under arrest and are suspected by investigators of having acted to serve the interests of a foreign power, possibly Russia.

The October 2023 attack by Hamas on Israel that sparked the war between Israel and Hamas resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, the majority of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Out of 251 hostages seized during Hamas's attack, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

The Israeli offensive has killed at least 61,258 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry which are considered reliable by the United Nations.

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Israel's Netanyahu says wants to take control of all of Gaza, doesn't intend to 'govern' it

LEASE IT TO KUSHNER REALTY INC.

Issued on: 07/08/2025 - FRANCE24

Prime Minister Netanyahu told Fox News that Israel does not intend to govern Gaza permanently but 'intend to take control', remove Hamas, and hand over administration to a new authority. He said no detailed military plan exists yet, ahead of a crucial cabinet vote. This comes amid an unprecedented clash between Netanyahu’s government and the Israeli military over Gaza policy, as FRANCE 24's Noga Tarnopolsky explains.

Video by: Noga TARNOPOLSKY

 

Protests erupt with Israelis divided over government's plan to "control" Gaza

Issued on: 08/08/2025 - FRANCE24

Families of the hostages still being held in Gaza led widespread protests on Thursday against the Israeli government's plans to "control" the territory, demanding instead an end to the war and a release of all the remaining captives. Members of government also castigated the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan, with his military chief of staff concerned that his troops would be too depleted, and opposition leader Yair Lapid claiming the human and financial price of maintaining a hold over all of Gaza would be too steep after almost two years of fighting.

Video by:  Monte FRANCIS

Israel to 'take control' of Gaza City after approving new war plan

Jerusalem (AFP) – Israel's military will "take control" of Gaza City under a plan proposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and approved by his security cabinet, his office said in a statement Friday.


Issued on: 08/08/2025 - 

Israel's security cabinet approved new war plans that involve taking over Gaza City

 © Jack GUEZ / AF


Nearly two years into the war in Gaza, Netanyahu faces mounting pressure at home and abroad for a truce to pull the territory's more than two million people back from the brink of famine and free the hostages held by Palestinian militants.

Under the plan to "defeat" Hamas in the Gaza Strip, the Israeli army "will prepare to take control of Gaza City while distributing humanitarian assistance to the civilian population outside combat zones", the premier's office said.

Before the decision, Netanyahu said Israel planned to take full control of Gaza but did not intend to govern it.

He told US network Fox News on Thursday that the military would seize complete control of the territory, where it has been fighting Hamas since the Palestinian militant group's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

He added that Israel did not want "to keep" the Gaza Strip, which Israel occupied in 1967 but withdrew troops and settlers from in 2005.

Netanyahu said Israel wanted a "security perimeter" and to hand the Palestinian territory to "Arab forces that will govern it properly without threatening us".

"That's not possible with Hamas," he added.

Israelis fearful for the lives of hostages still held in Gaza demonstrate outside the prime minister's office against the government's plans to expand the war. © AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP

His office on Friday said a majority of the security cabinet had adopted "five principles" aimed at ending the war: "the disarming of Hamas; the return of all hostages -- living and dead; the demilitarisation of the Gaza Strip; Israeli security control in the Gaza Strip; the establishment of an alternative civil administration that is neither Hamas nor the Palestinian Authority".

An unspecified "alternative plan" was rejected by the cabinet, it added.

The Israeli army said last month that it controlled 75 percent of the Gaza Strip, mainly from its positions in the territory along the border.

An expanded Israeli offensive in Gaza could see ground troops operate in densely populated areas where hostages are believed to be held, Israeli media have reported.

'More destruction, more death'

The plans to expand the war have sparked growing concern in Israel about what it means for the remaining hostages.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid denounced the cabinet's move on Friday, calling it "a disaster that will lead to many other disasters".

He said on X that the plan would result in "the death of the hostages, the killing of many soldiers, cost Israeli taxpayers tens of billions, and lead to diplomatic bankruptcy".

As the cabinet meeting began Thursday, hundreds rallied near the prime minister's office in Jerusalem, calling for a deal to free the hostages.

"The only way to bring the hostages home is to halt the war and end the suffering of the hostages and all those living through this terrible conflict," said protester Sharon Kangasa-Cohen.

In Gaza, fears grew over what an expansion of Israeli operations would entail.

Most of Gaza is under evacuation orders or within militarised zones 

© Olivia BUGAULT, Pauline PAILLASSA, Julie PEREIRA / AFP

"Ground operations mean more destruction and death," said Ahmad Salem, 45.

Hamas said in a statement that "Netanyahu's plans to escalate the aggression confirm beyond any doubt his desire to get rid of the captives and sacrifice them in pursuit of his personal interests and extremist ideological agenda".

Out of 251 hostages captured during Hamas's 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the military says are dead.

Ahead of Thursday's meeting, rumours were rife in the Israeli press about disagreements over the plan between the cabinet and military chief Eyal Zamir, who was said to oppose fully occupying Gaza.

'Unrealistic costs'

International concern has been growing over the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza, where a UN-backed assessment has warned that famine is unfolding.

The World Health Organization said at least 99 people have died from malnutrition in the territory this year, with the figure likely an underestimate.

Palestinians rush to the site where parachuted aid packages in the Nuseirat area in the central Gaza Strip © Eyad BABA / AFP

Displaced Gazan Mahmoud Wafi said that the prices of available food remained high and erratic.

"We hope that food will be made available again in normal quantities and at reasonable prices, because we can no longer afford these extremely high and unrealistic costs," the 38-year-old told AFP.

In late July, Israel partially eased restrictions on aid entering Gaza, but the United Nations says the amount allowed into the territory remains insufficient.

Amjad Al-Shawa, head of the Palestinian NGO Network in the Gaza Strip, told AFP that lengthy inspection procedures at entry points meant few trucks could come in -- "between 70 to 80 per day -- carrying only specific types of goods".

The UN estimates that Gaza needs at least 600 trucks of aid per day to meet residents' basic needs.

Israel's offensive has killed at least 61,258 Palestinians, according to Hamas-run Gaza's health ministry.

The 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

© 2025 AFP

Relatives of hostages protest with Gaza flotilla ahead of Israeli security meeting


Issued on: 07/08/2025 - FRANCE24

Relatives of Israeli hostages sailed in a flotilla toward Gaza, waving flags and posters of their loved ones held by Hamas, calling for international support. The protest comes ahead of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s security cabinet meeting Thursday, where he may seek approval to expand military operations in Gaza despite opposition, including from hostage families.

Video by:  Yuka ROYER

Dr. Gershon Baskin: 'Hamas is ready for a deal that will release all Israeli hostages in 24 hours'


Issued on: 07/08/2025 -FRANCE24

Former hostage negotiator Dr. Gershon Baskin tells FRANCE 24 that he has spoken directly with Hamas, saying the militant group is "ready for a deal that will release all the Israeli hostages in 24 hours". Now the Middle East director of the International Communities Organisation, Dr. Baskin says the war in Gaza should end immediately, adding: "Hamas has been defeated, it can no longer govern Gaza." He says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for his part, "needs to continue the war for his own political survival". Dr Baskin is a co-director of the Alliance for Two States and has advised Israeli, Palestinian and international leaders on the peace process.

Video by: Delano D'SOUZA

'How much worse could it get?' Gazans fear full occupation

Gaza City (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – "When will this nightmare end?" wonders Amal Hamada, a 20-year-old displaced woman who, like most Gazans, feels powerless before the threat of full Israeli occupation after 22 months of war.


Issued on: 07/08/2025 -FRANCE24

Palestinian children carry water past line after line of tents housing displaced families in the sand dunes of Mawasi on Gaza's Mediterranean coast. © - / AFP

Rumours that the Israeli government might decide on a full occupation of the Palestinian territory spread from Israel to war-torn Gaza before any official announcement, sowing fear and despair.

Like nearly all Gazans, Hamada has been displaced several times by the war, and ended up in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, where the Israeli military carried out operations last month for the first time in the war.

"We've lived through many wars before, but nothing like this one. This war is long and exhausting, from one displacement to another. We are worn out," the woman told AFP.

Like her, Ahmad Salem, 45, wonders how things can get worse in a territory that already faces chronic food shortages, mass displacement and daily air strikes.


"We already live each day in anxiety and fear of the unknown. Talk of an expansion of Israeli ground operations means more destruction and more death," Salem told AFP.

Palestinians recover what they can from the debris of an Israeli strike on the makeshift camp in Mawasi. © - / AFP


"There is no safe space in Gaza. If Israel expands its ground operations again, we'll be the first victims," he said from a camp west of Gaza City where he had found shelter.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was to chair a meeting of his security cabinet later on Thursday to seek approval to expand military operations in Gaza, including in densely populated areas.
'Just animals'

“We read and hear everything in the news... and none of it is in our favour," said 40-year-old Sanaa Abdullah from Gaza City.

"Israel doesn't want to stop. The bombardment continues, the number of martyrs and wounded keeps rising, famine and malnutrition are getting worse, and people are dying of hunger", she said.

"What more could possibly happen to us?"

Precisely 22 months into the devastating war sparked by Hamas's October 2023 attack, Gaza is on the verge of "generalised famine", the United Nations has said.

Its 2.4 million residents are fully dependent on humanitarian aid, and live under the daily threat of air strikes.

The Israeli army announced in mid-July that it controlled 75 percent of Gaza, including a broad strip the whole length of the Israeli border and three main military corridors that cut across the territory from east to west.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says that more than 87 percent of the Gaza Strip is under unrevoked evacuation orders or designated as an Israeli military zone.

The remaining areas are the most densely populated. The city of Khan Yunis in the south, Gaza City in the north, and Deir el-Balah and its adjacent refugee camps in the centre.

"Now they speak of plans to expand their operations as if we are not even human, just animals or numbers," Abdullah laments.

"A new ground invasion means new displacement, new fear and we won’t even find a place to hide", she told AFP.

"What will happen if they start another ground operation? Only God is with us."

Arab and European militaries airdrop aid over bombed out buildings in central Gaza. © Eyad BABA / AFP


A widening of the war "would risk catastrophic consequences for millions of Palestinians and could further endanger the lives of the remaining hostages in Gaza", senior UN official Miroslav Jenca told the Security Council on Tuesday.

The October 2023 attack that sparked the war resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, the majority of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.

Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 61,258 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to figures from the Gaza health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.

© 2025 AFP

New species teem in Cambodia's threatened karst

Phnom Proek (Cambodia) (AFP) – A biologist might go a lifetime without discovering a new species. It took a team exploring Cambodia's limestone karst a single night to find three.


Issued on: 08/08/2025 - 

Conservationists searching for new species in a cave in Phnom Proek district in Battambang province, Cambodia © TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP

The trio of newly discovered geckos illustrates the incredible and often overlooked biodiversity in these harshly beautiful landscapes, and the risks posed by the cement industry's appetite for limestone.

"You can quite literally go into a cave, collect a few specimens, and most likely there'll be some that are new to science," said Pablo Sinovas, a snake specialist and Cambodia country director at conservation NGO Fauna & Flora.

"That's one of the magical aspects of karst ecosystems."

Karst landscapes, like Vietnam's famed Halong Bay outcroppings, are ancient structures, formed millions of years ago from coral.

Rain erosion creates their characteristic fluted, pockmarked exteriors and vast interior caves and tunnels.

It also isolates one piece of karst from another, creating evolutionary islands where species develop differently, explained gecko expert Lee Grismer, a professor at La Sierra University.

"Species are being created in these harsh environments."

AFP joined a team in July that is surveying karst near the Cambodia-Thailand border to better understand these ecosystems and build the case for their protection.

Pablo Sinovas, Cambodia country director at conservation NGO Fauna & Flora, with a lizardfound in a cave at Phnom Proek district in Battambang province © TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP


The work is challenging.

There is an ongoing risk of mines and unexploded ordnance, and days into the survey in Battambang province, the team was forced to move away from the border as fighting erupted between Thailand and Cambodia.
Venomous inhabitants

There is also the delicate task of navigating sharp karst at night, and avoiding hidden holes.

Some harbour venomous inhabitants, though finding one delights the team.

rain erosion creates their characteristic fluted, pockmarked exteriors and vast interior caves and tunnels © Suy SE / AFP


"Great spot," shouted Grismer, as the green head of a type of pit viper -- recently discovered in Thailand and not previously recorded in Cambodia -- emerged from a karst overhang and was collected by his colleague.

The work started after dark, when the millions of bats that roost in the karst have streamed out to hunt.

Armed with headlamps, the team clambered over vines, ducked beneath dripping stalactites and dodged insects attracted by their lights.

In one cave, a plate-sized whip spider sat impassively, while elsewhere a scorpion scurried from under a rock, her offspring on her back.

The team looked for the slightest movement or the glint of an eye to find animals sometimes no bigger than a pinky finger.

Each catch was placed in a bag with enough air to keep it alive until cataloguing time in the morning.

The meticulous process is essential to proving a species is new and preserving it for future study.

It starts with a surreal photoshoot in the team's sparse hotel room.

Karst rocks were piled artfully on black velvet taped to a table and the wall, and then the models came out: frogs, snakes and geckos.

Geckos on the loose

Photographing species where they were collected is risky.

A biologist might go a lifetime without discovering a new species. It took a team exploring Cambodia's limestone karst a single night to find three © TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP


"These animals can escape and you've lost your new species," explained Grismer.

But even in the hotel room, several geckos made a break for it, sending scientists scrambling behind a fridge or into a bathroom to retrieve their precious finds.

Each animal was then euthanised, tagged and measured. Its DNA-rich liver was extracted for sequencing that will create a kind of family tree tracing its evolutionary history.

If an animal appears on their own branch, they are new to science.

Of the approximately 40 specimens collected in a single night, three seemed clear contenders: a large speckled gecko, a bent-toed gecko with a distinctive banded tail and a web-toed gecko.

Grismer, 70, has found dozens of new species in his career but said each find reminds him of his childhood excitement about animals.

"That same emotion, intensity and power... just comes rushing back."

Finally, the specimens are injected with formaldehyde and artfully arranged in boxes to display as many of their features as possible.

Cement demand

Fauna & Flora hopes the research will convince the government to protect more karst in the country, and said officials have already signalled interest at the local level.

Scientists capture the geckos and photograph them © TANG CHHIN Sothy / AFP

But it can be a hard case to make in a country with growing demand for cement domestically and for export.

Prime Minister Hun Manet in May said Cambodia produces 11 million tons of cement annually and praised the sector for reducing imports, creating jobs and contributing tax, while insisting quarrying should be done "responsibly".

Tuy Noeun, a local villager guiding the scientific survey, said he and other residents believe spirits inhabit the karst, but would still be happy to see a cement firm move in.

Unique species emerge from evolutionary islands © Nicholas SHEARMAN / AFP

"We want jobs for our people," he said.

Sinovas of Fauna & Flora hopes the survey will at least inform decision-making and help protect areas home to particularly rare species, comparing them to Cambodia's famed Angkor Wat temple complex.

"Would you turn Angkor Wat into cement?" he said.

"You wouldn't because it's a national treasure. Well, some of these species should be considered national treasures as well."

© 2025 AFP

'Plastic pollution really begins when we're making plastics and extracting oil, gas from the ground'

Issued on: 07/08/2025 - FRANCE24

The 184 countries gathering to forge a landmark treaty on combating plastic pollution are seeking a way forward to tackle a global crisis wrecking ecosystems and trashing the oceans. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24's Eve Irvine welcomes Martin Wagner, Professor in the Department of Biology at NTNU: Norwegian University of Science and Technology.

Video by: Eve IRVINE

Plastic pollution treaty talks deadlocked

Geneva (AFP) – Negotiations on a global treaty on plastic pollution are being blocked by oil-producing countries and getting bogged down in a "dialogue of the deaf", sources at the talks told AFP on Thursday.


Issued on: 07/08/2025 - FRANCE24

Plastic waste has been found from the bottom of the seas to the tops of mountains

 © LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI / AFP


Ten days of talks on finalising an international, legally-binding accord opened on Tuesday amid optimism from organisers that a deal could be done to tackle the scourge of plastic rubbish and microplastics trashing the planet.

But by Thursday, after countries had staked out their positions, the mood had darkened, negotiating sources said.

"We are in a dialogue of the deaf, with very few landing zones... I don't see progress," said a diplomatic source from a country in a coalition of nations pushing for a strong treaty, including plastic production reduction targets.

"What's worrying is that we have lots of points of disagreement; we're not quibbling about one problem."


The "Like-Minded Countries" (LMC) group, chiefly comprising oil-producing states, is opposed to any targets for limiting plastic production.

In total, 184 nations are taking part in the talks at the United Nations in Geneva.

Technically, the talks are a resumed session of the fifth -- and supposedly final -- round of negotiations, which ended in a flop in Busan, South Korea, in December.
'Hostage situation'

Rather than drifting towards common ground, "positions are crystallising", an observer from a non-governmental organisation told AFP after attending discussion groups, where the technical articles of the treaty are being thrashed out by negotiators.

"The Thinker's Burden" statue by Canadian artist Benjamin Von Wong will gradually be covered by plastic waste outside the Geneva negotiations for a UN plastics treaty

 © Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP


Written documents submitted by nations to the UN negotiations website, consulted by AFP, confirm that Saudi Arabia, the Arab countries group, Russia, Iran, Kazakhstan and Malaysia reject binding measures on cutting plastic production.

Most of these countries want the petroleum origin of plastic to be left outside the bounds of any eventual treaty, and want the agreement to focus solely on what happens downstream, such as waste collection, sorting, recycling.

However, the initial, universally-adopted resolution establishing negotiations towards a treaty envisaged a deal covering the entire life cycle of plastic.

"If the text is only to help developing countries manage their waste better, we don't need an international treaty to do so," the diplomatic source stressed. "We are in a stand-off with countries quite prepared for there to be no treaty".

Ten days of talks on finalising an international, legally-binding instrument on plastic pollution opened on with optimism © Fabrice COFFRINI / AFP

The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) said that while the most ambitious countries had scaled back some aspirations in a bid to find consensus, the LMC group had not budged, meaning the middle ground was now much lower.

CIEL spokeswoman Cate Bonacini said: "That's not a negotiation; that's a hostage situation, especially when you know you're running out of money, people want to end the process. They're going to try to spend us down and tire us out."

"We heard countries on day one questioning whether this should be a treaty about plastic at all. That's really indicative of where some countries are," she told AFP.
Health risks

No consensus has emerged one an article of the draft text, on creating a list of chemical substances considered potentially hazardous to the environment or human health. The chemical industry has opposed such a list.

An Afghan worker loads plastic bottles into a sack at a recycling yard in Kabul © Wakil KOHSAR / AFP


The World Health Organization urged countries to ensure the treaty contains enforceable health protection.

"Plastic pollution poses significant and growing risks to human health," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters.

"These risks disproportionately impact vulnerable populations, including workers with occupational exposure... and communities near extraction production and disposal sites.

"Many of the chemicals added to plastic during their manufacture are hazardous, including endocrine disruptors, linked to hormonal imbalance, reproductive disorders, infertility, kidney disease and cancer."

Global plastics production could almost triple between 2019 and 2060 © Sylvie HUSSON, Christophe THALABOT / AFP


Rudiger Krech, the UN health agency's environment chief, added that on plastic and human health, "the more we look the more we find.

"Twenty years ago we didn't know how dangerous it can be.

"We're now looking at the nano-plastics that can be found in many people's brains; we can also see that this is connected to many diseases."

© 2025 AFP

A French sailor's personal 'Plastic Odyssey'

Paris (AFP) – Simon Bernard's private war on plastic pollution began in 2016.


Issued on: 07/08/2025 -

Shocked at plastic waste on a once pristine beach, Simon Bernard launched what he called a 'plastic odyssey' © JOEL SAGET / AFP

From the deck of the cargo ship he was working on, Bernard was stunned to discover mountains of rubbish piled up in Hann Bay, once a white sandy beach that had become an open sewer in the Senegalese capital Dakar.

Thickets of rubbish were almost everywhere along the coast, "washing into the sea with the tides and waves," the 34-year-old sailor told AFP in an interview.

It was, he said, a terrible shock. "At sea, you don't see the plastic."

Deeply moved by seeing fishermen pulling tangled webs of plastic from their nets, Bernard -– newly graduated from France's Merchant Navy -– enlisted another engineer, Alexandre Dechelotte, to embark on what he dubbed "Plastic Odyssey".


The plan was to complete a round-the-world expedition aboard a 40-metre (130-foot) laboratory ship to raise awareness at their many ports of call -- especially among children -– about the devastating impact of the 20 tonnes of plastic waste dumped into the oceans every minute of every day.

The three-year expedition, which partnered with local associations along their route, is almost complete.

'Avoid using it'

Bernard secured financial sponsors, starting with a major French cosmetics brand that promoted the partnership as part of its commitment to increase the proportion of recycled plastic in its products.

But he said he was under no illusions: he knows that his initiative has had a modest impact on the global fight against plastic pollution.

He is also aware of earlier projects with similar goals that fell short of their ambitions.

The Ocean Cleanup launch by 18-year-old Dutch inventor Boyan Slat in 2013 – targeting the notorious Great Pacific Garbage Patch between Hawaii and California -- attracted money and attention but was hampered by design flaws and logistical limitations. A recent reboot of the system has shown greater potential for plastic removal at scale.

The three-year expedition partnered with local associations along the route

 © Nicolas TUCAT / AFP

Another initiative launched from France in 2018, the SeaCleaners, also reported disappointing yields of plastic pollution, and folded operations last year under the shadow of financial mismanagement.

But Bernard said the cause was too important to ignore, and aimed to prove that even small-scale efforts were critical in striving for a future with less plastic. Plastic Odyssey today has a staff of 35.

"The real solution to plastic pollution is to avoid using it," he said.

Nearly 200 nations are huddled in Geneva this week and next to forge a treaty to tackle the plastics crisis, and one of the most divisive issues on the table is whether to aim for reducing plastics production at the source, rather than simply cleaning up pollution after the fact.

30 stopovers

Giving up his dream of piloting ferries off the Normandy coast, Bernard left France on October 1, 2022. He is currently in Mayotte, a French territory in the Indian Ocean, and is nearing the end of his 30 three-week stops in three continents.

The Plastic Odyssey has catalogued more than a hundred local solutions for doing without plastic © SEYLLOU / AFP/File

His odyssey has taken him across the Mediterranean Sea as well as the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific oceans.

During stops in Marseille, Beirut, Dakar, Recife, Madras (Chennai) and two dozen other ports, he met with local associations, start-ups and companies working to collect, sort or recycle plastic.

He marvels, he said, at the "inventiveness" of the people he met, especially those who have lost everything.

He recalled an entrepreneur in Lebanon who collected recyclable household waste door-to-door from 60,000 people in a country that no longer has a public service for disposing of plastic.

Two and a half years into his adventure Bernard gave up his apartment, and he now lives on the boat.

The Plastic Odyssey has catalogued more than hundred local solutions for doing without plastic, which is derived from petroleum.

Bernard has adopted several of them, including one "that works very well on board the boat" to make water drinkable, eliminating the need for plastic bottles.

"This has saved us 25,000 bottles of water in two years -- almost a tonne of plastic," he calculated.

© 2025 AFP

Deadly Indian Himalayan flood likely caused by glacier collapse, experts say

New Delhi (AFP) – A deadly wall of muddy water that swept away an Indian Himalayan town this week was likely caused by a rapidly melting glacier exacerbated by the rising effects of climate change, experts said on Thursday

Issued on: 07/08/2025 - FRANCE24

Experts said the deadly flood that swept away an Indian Himalayan town was likely caused by a rapidly melting glacier fuelled by the effects of climate change \\© Biju BORO / AFP

Scores of people are missing after water and debris tore down a narrow mountain valley, smashing into the town of Dharali in Uttarakhand state on Tuesday.

Several people could be seen in videos running before being engulfed as waves uprooted entire buildings, leaving others smothered in freezing sludge.

At least four people have been confirmed killed, but at least 50 others are missing.

Government officials said shortly after the disaster that the flood was caused by an intense "cloudburst" of rain.

However, experts assessing the damage suggested that it was only the final trigger, adding to days of prolonged rains that had already soaked and loosened the ground.

P.K. Joshi, of New Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, an expert on Himalayan hazards, said it appeared the flood was caused by the collapse of debris -- known as moraine -- that had dammed a lake of meltwater from a retreating glacier.

"Given the persistent rainfall over preceding days and the sudden discharge observed, a glacial lake outburst flood (GLOF) or collapse of a moraine-dammed lake is suspected as the primary trigger," Joshi told AFP.

That would have contributed to a "sudden high energy flash flood", he said, noting that glacial terrain upstream of the town included "unstable sediment zones".

Cloud cover has obstructed satellite imagery to check for the exact source of the debris, and Joshi cautioned that there was not enough satellite data for a "definitive confirmation".

'Disaster severity'

Safi Ahsan Rizvi, an adviser to the National Disaster Management Authority, also said that it was "likely" that the cause was a "glacio-fluvial debris landslide".

Significant water accumulation preceding the collapse of a glacial lake likely caused the deadly flood that swept away an Indian Himalayan town, experts said 

© Biju BORO / AFP

Sandip Tanu Mandal, a glaciologist at New Delhi's Mobius Foundation, also pointed to the "possibility of a GLOF", caused by "significant water accumulation in the lake due to increased melting and rainfall".

Mandal noted that while heavy, the amount of rain immediately before the flood was "not very significant" in comparison to the vast volumes of water that poured down the valley.

That would indicate the source was a potentially collapsing lake.

Himalayan glaciers, which provide critical water to nearly two billion people, are melting faster than ever before due to climate change, exposing communities to unpredictable and costly disasters, scientists warn.

The softening of permafrost increases the chances of landslides.

Joshi said the latest disaster "highlights the complex and interconnected nature of Himalayan hazards".

Rapid development and building downstream meant that the damage caused was multiplied.

"The land use patterns in the floodplain exacerbated the disaster severity," Joshi said.

© 2025 AFP

Flash floods and landslides hit Himalayan village, dozens missing


Issued on: 07/08/2025 - FRANCE24

Rescue teams in northern India are struggling with heavy rain and blocked roads following a deadly flash flood and landslides in a Himalayan village earlier this week, which left dozens missing and four dead. Disaster relief workers and the military are working to clear debris and search for survivors.

‘Unprecedented’ wildfire in southern France driven by drought and climate change, officials say

A wildfire burning has grown to become the country’s biggest since 1949.

Copyright Richard Capoulade/UGC via AP

By Rosie Frost
Published on 07/08/2025 - 

Hotspots across southern Europe have been scorched this summer, stoked by high temperatures and drought.


A wildfire burning in the south of France has grown to become the country’s biggest since 1949.

It has claimed one life and burned more than 16,000 hectares - an area one and a half times the size of Paris - in the south of France.

French Prime Minister François Bayrou described it as a “catastrophe of unprecedented scale”.

The blaze, which began on Tuesday afternoon near the village of Ribaute in the Aude region near the border with Spain and not far from the Mediterranean Sea, has been raging for three days.

In the first 12 hours of the fire, it spread across 11,000 hectares of land - an area roughly equivalent to the size of Paris. Within 24 hours, it had destroyed the same amount of land as wildfires usually burn across France in a year.

Related

‘Climate change hasn’t stopped,’ warns EU climate monitor as global heat record streak ends

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Now it has burned more than 16,000 hectares to become the biggest fire since the creation of France’s national fire database in 2006, the national emergency management service has said.

Images shared by Météo-France show that the smoke plume from the blaze is visible from space.

France’s largest fire in over 70 years

The fire spread quickly due to strong winds, dry vegetation and hot summer weather, officials have said.

“The night was cooler, so the fire is spreading more slowly but it remains the most significant fire France has seen since 1949,” France’s minister for ecological transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, told France Info radio.

“It is a fire that is clearly a consequence of climate change and drought in this region.”

Michael Sabot, deputy director of the Aude fire department, told France's BFM-TV that “unfavourable weather conditions” meant the blaze “certainly” wouldn’t be brought under control on Thursday.

Forecast high temperatures and strong, more than 40km per hour winds would further dry out vegetation, he said. After a cooler start to the week, Météo-France has forecast intensifying heat in the south with temperatures of up to 40°C and a high risk of wildfires.

Burned trees during France's biggest wildfire this summer, near Durban-Corbieres, southern France. AP Photo/Hernan Munoz

While current weather conditions play a role, prolonged dry weather has also increased the fire risk.

Mediterranean regions of the country are experiencing significant drought, meaning vegetation and trees are highly susceptible to fires, Météo-France says. It adds that recently, even tall trees have been affected, allowing for very intense fires - a sign of just how severe this drought is

The Aude region in particular has been facing water use restrictions due to a “drought crisis” since 1 August, with a lack of rainfall in recent months playing “a major role in the spreading of the fire”, according to the environment ministry.

It adds that in the neighbouring Pyrénées-Orientales, rainfall has reduced by around 60 per cent since 2022.

An investigation into the exact cause of the fire is ongoing.
Is climate change fuelling wildfires in the Mediterranean?

This year has so far brought an extremely active and damaging fire season in Europe.

Monitoring from the European Forest Fire Information System shows that wildfires have burned 353,862 hectares of land since the beginning of 2025 - more than twice the area burned during the same period last year.

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Portugal’s burned land triples compared to last year amid intensifying wildfires

Europe’s wildfire emissions soar to record highs as extreme heat and drought fuel summer blazes

Hotspots across the Mediterranean have been scorched this summer, stoked by heatwaves and drought. Southern Europe has seen multiple large fires, with scientists warning that climate change is exacerbating the frequency and intensity of heat and dryness, making the region more vulnerable to fires.

According to European Drought Observatory data, more than half of Europe, including the Mediterranean, experienced the worst drought conditions in the first part of July since monitoring began in 2021.

Scientists have warned that climate change is making droughts worse and changing rainfall patterns in Europe. Where regions like the Mediterranean would previously have had a chance to recover, balance or prepare for a lack of water in summer in wetter seasons, they can no longer depend on rainfall in the same way.

Wildfire in southern France kills woman and forces mass evacuations

One person has died and several firefighters have been injured after a wildfire tore through 11,000 hectares of forest between Lagrasse and Ribaute in southern France.

 07/08/2025 - RFI

Firefighters were battling to contain a wildfire that swept through 11,000 hectares in southern France. AFP - IDRISS BIGOU-GILLES

The victim, described as an elderly woman, was found dead in her house in Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse as more than 1,500 firefighters battled the blaze that broke out on Tuesday afternoon.

Seven aircraft dropped thousands of tonnes of water to stop the fire reaching homes in the villages of Lagrasse, Fabrezan and Saint-Laurent-de-la-Cabrerisse.

Water drops resumed on Wednesday morning. More than 300 firefighters from nearby regions were due to arrive as reinforcements.

Several roads were closed to allow emergency crews to get through faster, said Aude police on Tuesday night.

Early on Wednesday, the A9 motorway – a major route between France and Spain – was shut in both directions between Narbonne and Perpignan because of thick smoke on the road.

Maud Bonnel from VINCI Autoroutes told Radio VINCI Autoroutes: "The Lézignan exit on the A61 is closed because the departmental road that continues from there leads to the fire.

"We are awaiting instructions from the fire brigade, but the fire has not been contained."

Holidaymakers at the Lagrasse and Fabrezan campsites were evacuated as a precautionary measure, along with around 30 houses in the village of Tournissan.
'Conditions right for fire'

"The fire was spreading in an area where all the conditions are right for it to spread. This fire will keep us busy for several days," Lucie Roesch, secretary general of the Aude prefecture, told BFMTV.

Since the beginning of summer, several fires have broken out in the Aude department, which has been affected by drought and high temperatures.

One at the start of July, the largest in the department since 1986, burned through 2,000 hectares and mobilised nearly 1,000 firefighters near Narbonne.

"We've gone from losing an average of 300 to 400 hectares per year in the early 2000s to nearly 1,000 hectares today," Jean-Paul Baylac, head of forest fires at the Aude departmental fire and rescue service, told the French news agency AFP.

On Tuesday night, President Emmanuel Macron took to social media to call for calm.

"All the nation's resources are being mobilised," he said."

(with newswires)

'Wildfires in south of France becoming more widespread, challenging to manage over past 10-15 years'

Issued on: 07/08/2025 -

France’s largest wildfire in decades continued to burn and spread Thursday, though at a slower pace, after having already ravaged more than 160 square kilometers (62 square miles) in the south of the country and claiming one life, local authorities said. The blaze, which started Tuesday and tore through the Corbières massif in the Aude region, has remained uncontained despite the deployment of over 2,100 firefighters and several water bomber aircraft. For in-depth analysis and a deeper perspective, FRANCE 24's Delano D'Souza welcomes Lieutenant-Colonel Frédéric Harrault, spokesperson for the of the French Civil Security and Crisis Management Agency (DGSCGC).

Video by: Delano D'SOUZA

Third-hottest July on record wreaks climate havoc

Paris (AFP) – The third-hottest July worldwide ended a string of record-breaking temperatures, but many regions were devastated by extreme weather amplified by global warming, the European climate monitoring service said Thursday.


Issued on: 07/08/2025 - 

Heavy rains flooded parts of South Asia © Niharika KULKARNI / AFP/File

Heavy rains flooded Pakistan and northern China; Canada, Scotland and Greece struggled to tame wildfires intensified by persistent drought; and many nations in Asia and Scandinavia recorded new average highs for the month.

"Two years after the hottest July on record, the recent streak of global temperature records is over," Carlo Buontempo, director of the EU's Copernicus Climate Change Service, said in a statement.

"But that does not mean climate change has stopped," he said. "We continue to witness the effects of a warming world."

A misleading dip

As in June, July showed a slight dip compared to the preceding two years, averaging 1.25 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial (1850-1900) era.

2023 and 2024 warmed above that benchmark by more than 1.5C, which is the Paris Agreement target set in 2015 for capping the rise in global temperatures at relatively safe levels.

That deceptively small increase has been enough to make storms, heatwaves and other extreme weather events far more deadly and destructive.

"We continued to witness the effect of a warming world in events such as extreme heatwaves and catastrophic floods in July," Buontempo said.

Last month, temperatures exceeded 50C in the Gulf, Iraq and -- for the first time -- Turkey, while torrential rains killed hundreds of people in China and Pakistan.

Women look at a building uprooted following heavy rains at a landslide-affected village outside Nepal's capital © Prakash MATHEMA / AFP/File


In Spain, more than a thousand deaths were attributed by a public institute to the heat in July, half as many as in the same period in 2024.

The main source of the CO2 driving up temperatures is well known: the burning of oil, coal and gas to generate energy.

"Unless we rapidly stabilise greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere, we should expect not only new temperature records but also a worsening of impacts," Buontempo said.

Regional contrasts

Global average temperatures are calculated using billions of satellite and weather readings, both on land and at sea, and the data used by Copernicus extends back to 1940.

Local residents try to extinguish the fire of a burning house during a wildfire in Kryoneri near Athens © Angelos TZORTZINIS / AFP/File


Even if July was milder in some places than in previous years, 11 countries experienced their hottest July in at least a half-century, including China, Japan, North Korea, Tajikistan, Bhutan, Brunei and Malaysia, according to AFP calculations.

In Europe, Nordic countries saw an unprecedented string of hot days, including more than 20 days above 30C across Finland.

More than half of the land in Europe and along the Mediterranean basin experienced the worst drought conditions in the first three weeks of July since monitoring began in 2012, according to an AFP analysis of data from the European Drought Observatory (EDO).

In contrast, temperatures were below normal in North and South America, India and parts of Australia and Africa, as well as in Antarctica.

Seas still overheating

Last month was also the third-hottest July on record for sea surface temperatures.

Locally, however, several ocean records for July were broken: in the Norwegian Sea, in parts of the North Sea, in the North Atlantic west of France and Britain.

In Europe, some countries saw an unprecedented string of hot days 

© Thibaud MORITZ / AFP/File


The extent of Arctic sea ice was 10 percent below average, the second lowest for a July in 47 years of satellite observations, virtually tied with the readings of 2012 and 2021.

Diminishing sea ice is a concern not because it adds to sea levels, but because it replaces the snow and ice that reflect almost all the Sun's energy back into space with deep blue ocean, which absorbs it.

Ninety percent of the excess heat generated by global warming is absorbed by the oceans.

In Antarctica, sea ice extent is the third lowest on record for this month.

- 'Records to be broken' -

"Human activities are causing the world to warm at an unprecedented rate," Piers Forster, Director of the Priestley Centre for Climate Futures at the University of Leeds, told AFP in commenting on the new data.

This aerial picture shows a French lighthouse threatened by coastal erosion © Christophe ARCHAMBAULT / AFP/File


On top of the human-driven warming, he explained, there are year-to-year changes caused by natural phenomena, such as the El Nino -- a shift in wind patterns across the southern Pacific -- and volcanic activity that helped push global temperatures past the 1.5C threshold over the last two years.

"These variations are now reducing, dropping us back from the record-breaking temperatures," said Forster, who heads a consortium of 60 top scientists that track core changes in Earth's climate system.

"But the reprieve is only temporary," he added. "We can expect the the high records to be broken again in the near future."

© 2025 AFP

Trump moves to kill $7 billion in solar panel grants

CUTTING NOSE TO SPITE FACE

Washington (AFP) – President Donald Trump's administration on Thursday moved to kill a $7 billion program designed to bring rooftop solar to low-income and disadvantaged communities across the United States.


Issued on: 08/08/2025 - FRANCE24


The Solar For All grant program was created under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, former president Joe Biden's landmark climate legislation.

Sixty recipients -- a mix of state agencies and nonprofits -- had already been selected across both Democratic-led and Republican-led states. The initiative aimed to help more than 900,000 households slash their electricity bills by hundreds of dollars a year.

In a video posted to X, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin said last month's "Big Beautiful Act" repealed the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, under which Solar For All was housed. He said he was now obligated to follow the law.

Zeldin alleged -- without elaboration -- that the program's funds were being siphoned off by the administrative costs of "middlemen," calling the setup a "grift."

He also criticized its exemption from requirements to buy American goods, claiming it amounted to "great news for China."

Of the $7 billion obligated so far, just $53 million has been spent, according to an analysis by research firm Atlas Public Policy.

Tom Taylor, a senior policy analyst at Atlas, told AFP there had been a general understanding that once contracts were signed, obligated funds couldn't be clawed back. "But the Trump administration is now testing that theory," he said.

Environmental groups erupted in anger.

"President Trump pledged to cut energy bills in half, but once again his administration is trying to make it more expensive to keep your home cool or the lights on," said Adam Kent, director of green finance at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

Progressive Senator Bernie Sanders accused Trump of acting to protect fossil fuel interests. "Donald Trump wants to illegally kill this program to protect the obscene profits of his friends in the oil and gas industry," he said in a statement, vowing to "fight back to preserve this enormously important program."

The administration has already worked with Congress to repeal tax credits for wind and solar, tightened restrictions on federal leases for renewable energy projects, and rescinded designated offshore wind areas.

It has also proposed ending regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and vehicles -- and released a report suggesting climate change could be beneficial.

© 2025 AFP

US to rewrite its past national climate reports

Washington (AFP) – US President Donald Trump's administration is revising past editions of the nation's premier climate report -- its latest move to undermine the scientific consensus on human-caused global warming.

REVISIONIST & REVANCHIST HISTORY

Issued on: 07/08/2025 - FRANCE24

Trump's energy secretary, Chris Wright, is the former executive of major fracking company Liberty Energy © ALEX WONG / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP/File

The decision, announced by Energy Secretary Chris Wright during a CNN appearance Tuesday night, follows the government's revocation of the Endangerment Finding, a scientific determination that underpins a host of regulations aimed at curbing greenhouse gas emissions.

Asked by CNN's Kaitlan Collins why previous editions of the National Climate Assessment were no longer available online, former fracking company CEO Wright responded: "Because we're reviewing them, and we will come out with updated reports on those and with comments on those."

First published in 2000, the National Climate Assessment has long been viewed as a cornerstone of the US government's understanding of climate science, synthesizing input from federal agencies and hundreds of external experts.

Previous editions warned in stark terms of mounting risks to America's economy, infrastructure, and public health if greenhouse gas emissions are not curtailed. But in April, the administration moved to dismiss the hundreds of scientists working on the sixth edition.

Under the Global Change Research Act of 1990, the government is legally obligated to deliver the climate assessment to Congress and the president.

Trump's administration and the Republican-controlled Congress have pressed forward with their pro- fossil fuel agenda -- dismantling clean energy tax credits through the so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" and opening more ecologically sensitive lands to drilling.

Last month's proposed revocation of the Endangerment Finding by the Environmental Protection Agency was accompanied by the release of a new climate study from the Department of Energy, authored by climate change contrarians.

The study questioned whether heat records are truly increasing and whether extreme weather is worsening.

It also misrepresented the work of cited climate scientists, according to several who spoke to AFP, and suggested that rising atmospheric carbon dioxide could be a net benefit for agriculture.

© 2025 AFP

Trump offers FAKE data to justify firing of labor stats chief

Washington (AFP) – US President Donald Trump on Thursday alleged that jobs data had been "purposely" altered by the government's commissioner of labor statistics to bolster his predecessor Joe Biden, presenting different figures in the wake of her firing.


Issued on: 08/08/2025 - FRANCE24

US President Donald Trump displays charts which he says show that an official appointed under Joe Biden had 'purposely' changed figures to make the veteran Democrat's administration look better © Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP

In the Oval Office, where journalists were convened for a "major" announcement, Trump and economist Stephen Moore of the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, displayed charts with what they said was the real data.

"This shows that over the last two years of the Biden administration, the BLS overestimated job creation by 1.5 million jobs. Mr. President, that's a gigantic error," Moore said.

Trump "did the right thing in calling for a new head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics," added the economist, a longtime advisor to the Republican president.

"It might not have been an error, that's the bad part," Trump said. "I don't think it's an error, I think they did it purposely."

According to what Moore called "unpublished census data," in the first five months of Trump's new term, the "average median household income adjusted for inflation for the average family in America is already up $1,174."

Trump called that result "incredible."

The Bureau of Labor Statistics regularly revises employment data after its initial publication -- both up and down, and sometimes significantly.

In early August, it sharply revised down employment growth for May and June -- to the tune of 258,000 fewer jobs created.

The revision infuriated Trump, who sacked commissioner of labor statistics Erika McEntarfer, who was confirmed in that role in January 2024.

"We had no confidence. I mean the numbers were ridiculous," Trump told reporters Sunday.

In his first term, Trump had wanted to name Moore to the board of the Federal Reserve, the US central bank, but he opted against doing that in the face of criticism of Moore's qualifications and allegedly sexist comments the economist had made in the past.

© 2025 AFP