Asylum seekers fleeing US for Canada brave snow, extreme cold

At Thoiry park, in the Yvelines region outside Paris, there are many surprises in store. Thoiry is not a typical zoo, since the animals live in semi-freedom. The safari is the main attraction. Visitors get around in their own cars or on board a so-called bush truck to discover 180 different species of animals up close, including lions and elephants. FRANCE 24 takes you behind the scenes of the park, which attracts half a million visitors a year.

Democratic Republic of Congo's environment minister said on Thursday (October 28) the country intends to ban all log exports and implement other measures to lessen threats to its carbon-absorbing tropical rainforest, a major bulwark against climate change. Home to a majority of the world's second-largest rainforest, Congo is under pressure to improve forest management and curb a high deforestation rate that has doubled in the last decade, according to U.N. figures. Environment Minister Eve Bazaiba announced the suspension of log exports to reporters in the capital Kinshasa, but did not say when it would come into effect.

Military leaders in Mali and Guinea are under pressure to follow a roadmap for elections after coups in recent years. The sanctions consist of travel bans and asset freezes.

Vancouver Island, in the Canadian province of British Columbia, is home to immense cedars and firs, some of them 800 years old. It's here that an environmental battle is raging between the logging industry and defenders of the Fairy Creek forest. The fight over logging has gone all the way to British Columbia's Supreme Court and is resonating within Canadian society, with police accused of excessive force towards the environmental protesters. Our correspondents François Rihouay, Joanne Profeta and Laura McQuillan report.

Rich nations pledged more than a decade ago to pay $100 billion a year by 2020 to help developing countries cut their own emissions and reduce the already-felt impacts of climate change.

Saudi Arabia is offering residents and tourists a unique safari experience in the desert of its capital Riyadh, at a site now home to 700 animals native to Africa. Lions and tigers are just a few of the animals that were flown in from outside the kingdom to the 175,000 square metres stretch of land that is now a safari park, where visitors seated in a vehicle can see them, some for the very first time.

The African Union is forging ahead with mediation talks in Ethiopia as the US warns of the potential far-reaching consequences of the conflict. But productive negotiations are still far from assured.

During a visit in October, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin described the new refugee camp on the Greek island of Samos as a "European model" for the reception of asylum seekers. The EU-funded Samos camp is closed and isolated – a far cry from overwhelmed reception centres such as the Moria camp on Lesbos, which was nicknamed the "camp of shame". But the asylum procedure remains lengthy and refugees are surrounded by barbed wire and video surveillance. Meanwhile, migrants trying to make the sea crossing to Europe still face a perilous journey. On October 27, three children drowned off the coast of Chios when their dinghy sank. Our correspondents report.

On his first visit to Africa, US top envoy Antony Blinken has addressed Ethiopia's raging Tigray conflict, the terrorism threat in Africa and human rights concerns in Nigeria.

While most people stayed at home as the COVID-19 pandemic ravaged New York, Ghanaian national Paul Ninson sifted through storage containers and struggling bookshops in order to build what he says has become the world's largest collection of African photography books. His collection now consists of more than 30,000 books. He plans to bring them back to Ghana and open a photography museum with help from a crowdfunding campaign that raised more than a million dollars in two days.

The European Union wants member states to halt air travel with South Africa and several surrounding countries over a new coronavirus variant. Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic were all quick to react.

Seven strong African women speak out about their experiences of violence and abuse to mark the Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.