Bonobo at Le Plan after winning Best Album award
Bonobo at Le Plan, 17 December 2010
After winning DJ Mag’s Best Album award this week for Black Sands, Bonobo performed at Le Plan in Ris Orangis on Thursday night. Alongside vocalist Andreya Triana and a barrage of other musicians, Simon Green, AKA Bonobo, captivated French fans with a mix of down-tempo house, atmospheric soundscapes and more bassline heavy electronica.
Interview: Bonobo AKA Simon Green
Violence against women in the DRC
Women in Goma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, January 2007, CC licence: Julien Harneis
Sixteen days of activism highlighting violence against women ends on 10 December. The campaign, financed by the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership, is trying to create a symbolic link between violence against women and human rights. At a recent conference in Paris the focus was on women in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Radio Report: Violence against women in the DRC
(presenter: Marjorie Hache)
Is France the next big video game contender?
Xbox Kinect at Paris Games Week, 27 October 2010
The video game industry has become one of the fastest growing sectors in entertainment, worth billions of dollars. France’s government is trying to cultivate its video game industry with tax breaks.
Radio Report: Marketplace Morning Report
(presenter: Steve Chiotakis)
Tuareg links to AQIM
Tuaregs with their camels, 2009, CC licence: Marco Bellucci
It has been over two months since the kidnapping of seven people in Niger by the North African wing of Al-Qaeda. The hostages, who worked for French nuclear firm Areva, were snatched in the northern town of Arlit by a group known as Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb or AQIM. But what’s the true face of AQIM? And what should we make of recent reports that members of the Tuareg nomadic people are involved?
Radio Report: AQIM specialist Jeremy Keenan
Zimbabwe – MDC appeals to France for election support
Zimbabwe Prime Minister and MDC President Morgan Tsvangirai, June 2009, CC licence: Nick-Clegg
In an exclusive interview, Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change spokesperson Nelson Chamisa told RFI on Tuesday that they will ask for help in organising elections which President Robert Mugabe has called for by the middle of 2011. Despite not having a new constitution the MDC is happy with, they have come up with what they call a “stopgap measure”.
France-UK defence deal could bring cooperation on Africa, report
Tony Chafer, François Gaulme and Gordon Cumming (L to R), 3 November 2010, Ifri
After a ground-breaking military deal between France and Britain earlier this week – a report presented in Paris at the French Institute for International Relations (Ifri) says there should be more cooperation between the two countries in Africa.
Radio Report: Africa Report
Jostling for position at the Paris Games Week
Poster of the Lapins Crétins video game at Paris Games Week
With 28 million regular video game players in France and a market worth more than three billion euros in 2010, the inaugural Paris Games Week is attempting to woo gaming geeks with new games as well as innovations in interactivity. Ahead of the important Christmas period, major players such as Xbox, Disney and Electronic Arts are showing off their wares.
Radio Feature: Focus on France
France plans 13 ecocities
Hammarby urban redevelopment, Stockholm, Sweden, February 2010, CC licence: La Citta Vita
France is set to have 13 ecocities attracting 50,000 extra inhabitants over the next 25 years in specially designed eco-quarters. The government has told local authorities to submit their plans by March next year. Eighty per cent of France’s population lives in urban areas which produce 70 per cent of French greenhouse gas emissions. The plan aims to “show that it’s possible to grow, to welcome new inhabitants and do it in a sustainable way,” government adviser Emmanuelle Gay told RFI.
Protesters kick up a stink over Guerlain racism row
A protester holds a placard reading, “I don’t want to work like a nigger, either”
Protesters blocked the Guerlain store on the famous Champs-Elysées avenue in Paris on Saturday to call for a boycott of Guerlain products following comments by Jean-Paul Guerlain they claim were racist.
Radio Feature: Focus on France
French solar cyclist finishes epic journey to Tokyo
Florian Bailly on his solar bike, Japan, October 2010, Photo: Sur la Route du Soleil Levant
Frenchman Florian Bailly arrived in Tokyo at the beginning of the week after a gruelling bicycle ride from France through 12 countries and across two continents. Travelling on a specially adapted solar bicycle, Bailly harnessed the sun’s rays as he completed the 10,000 kilometre journey in less than two-thirds of the time it would have taken on a conventional bike.
custom-made radio 