Macron issues plea for Europe ahead of EU elections

Bruno Le Maire has said cutting all economic ties with China, as some in the West have proposed, is "an illusion." Germany is among the countries seeking to reduce what it sees as a perilous reliance on the Asian giant.

"We cannot give Marine Le Pen an inexorable path to power," French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin warned, as speculation grows that he might be vying to succeed Emmanuel Macron.

Niger's military junta on Friday announced ordered French ambassador Sylvian Itte to leave the country within 48 hours. Macron reiterated Paris' support for ousted President Mohammed Bazoum.

France says it will not budge in its refusal to engage with Niger's coup leaders. A month after their takeover, they issued a Monday deadline to the French ambassador to leave their country, but Paris has insisted its envoy will stay put. Also, Africa sets its own stage in Kenya for conversations about its experience of the ravages of climate change. With the first ever Africa climate summit now a week away, we speak to its CEO about the existential stakes faced by the continent.

This week we're at the 2023 annual MEDEF meeting, where the largest employers' federation in France gets leaders of the country's business community together to discuss the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead – one of them being the transition to a green economy. A world leader when it comes to waste treatment and solutions is French group Veolia. Its CEO Estelle Brachlianoff told FRANCE 24's Charles Pellegrin about the solutions that waste can provide when it comes to energy.

Food bank Les Restos du Coeur, responsible for one third of food assistance in France, warns that financial difficulties could force it to close within the next three years. We take a look at how France's richest man reacted to the announcement and why he drew criticism. We also discuss concerns about the rising popularity of the far right in France, and finish with some shocking falsehoods in online learning materials for high school students in Sao Paulo.

Schools in France told dozens of girls in abayas to go home on the first day of the school year, a minister says. The government argues the garments go against secularism rules.

In this edition, the contentious issue of how some Muslim women and girls dress captures the headlines here in France with once again, the spotlight being on clothing in schools. Also the missing women of Peru where thousands disappear yearly primarily due to human trafficking, prostitution and gender violence. Plus the nuns of Kathmandu who teach women and girls Kung Fu as an act of empowerment.

A video purporting to show the French Ambassador to Niger being booed as he is forced to leave the Embassy has been widely shared since Thursday, at a time of heightened tensions between coup leaders in Niger and France. This video, however, has nothing to do with that. It actually shows another coup-hit African country, as Emerald Maxwell explains.

French retail giant Carrefour has started putting stickers on products that have shrunk in size but that cost the same or even more, in a bid to warn customers against "shrinkflation". The move comes ahead of new contract talks that are set to begin soon. Meanwhile, the government is planning to temporarily lift a ban on retailers selling fuel at below-cost, in order to help households struggling to cope with stubbornly high inflation.

The parents of Marie, a 15-year-old French teenager, have pressed charges against TikTok after their daughter committed suicide in 2021. They believe that by sharing a flow of videos about suicide to Marie, who suffered from low self-esteem, the platform pushed her to take her own life. FRANCE 24's Science reporter Shirli Sitbon looks at ways a new French bill could tackle negative algorithms and online bullying.

Keir Starmer is in Paris a day ahead of King Charle's delayed state visit to France. The UK opposition leader has said he wants closer ties to the EU but won't seek to rejoin the bloc.