A decade after the 2015 Paris terror attacks, France continues to pass security laws, sometimes to the detriment of civil liberties. A feminist journalist's take on the Pelicot mass rape trial. And the auction of the Pascaline, one of the world's earliest calculators, is halted.

Immediately following the Paris attacks on 13 November, 2015, the French government put in place a nationwide state of emergency, granting police exceptional powers to detain and search people suspected of links to terrorism. Some of those sweeping powers have since passed into law, at the expense of civil liberties. Law professor Sophie Duroy says that while the public may have got used to authorities having greater reach, it is not always the best way to fight terrorism. (Listen @0')

Last December, 51 men were found guilty of raping or sexually assaulting Gisèle Pelicot in her home in Mazan in what was France's biggest rape trial to date. It made headlines worldwide – not least because Pélicot chose to drop her anonymity to make "shame swap sides" from victim to rapist. Independent photojournalist Anna Margueritat was one of many to cover the trial, but in her own way: as a feminist, an activist and victim of sexual violence, posting daily photos and stories on her Instagram account. Author of a recent book on her experience, she reflects on her time in court and what it changed. (Listen @16'45'')

A judge this week suspended the auction of a nearly 400-year-old calculator, after a group of academics called for the government to stop it leaving France. The object in question is a Pascaline, one of the first calculating machines, invented by French scientist Blaise Pascal in the 1640s. (Listen @10'40'')

Episode mixed by Nicolas Doreau.

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

How French media silence helped false stories claiming First Lady Brigitte Macron is a man to go viral. The unsung praises of France's street markets, which bring people together around buying and selling food. And France's short-lived colonial foray into Brazil.

False claims that President Emmanuel Macron's wife Brigitte is transgender first emerged online in 2021. The story could have fizzled out. But pushed by the far right and conspiracy theorists, it's now reached half the world's population. Ten people are on trial in France for cyberbullying the first lady and a lawsuit has been filed against a far-right influencer in the US. Thomas Huchon, an investigative journalist and teacher specialising in fake news, says he and other mainstream journalists failed to address the story when it broke, allowing conspiracists to fill the gap. (Listen @2'15'')

Open-air food markets are arguably a cornerstone of life in France. Held once or twice a week in most cities, they're one of the few ways of still bringing people together. On a visit to Paris' Aligre market, journalist Olivier Razemon, author of a new book extolling street markets as "an ingredient for a happy society", argues that they are underappreciated by policymakers and the general public for their ability to create community and revive urban centres. (Listen @20'40'')

One of France’s earliest colonisation attempts was in what is now Brazil, when 600 settlers arrived in Guanabara Bay – now Rio de Janeiro – in November 1555. The colony, called France Antarctique (Antarctic France), lasted only 12 years, but it inspired other French colonising missions as well as reshaping Europeans’ ideas about South America and its people. (Listen @15')

Episode mixed by Cécile Pompeani.

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).

The proposal to tax the ultra-rich that could address some of France's budget woes. The last paperboy in Paris, who has been hawking newspapers for nearly 50 years, tells of challenges and successes from Pakistan to Paris. And the man who ended the death penalty in France enters the Panthéon.

As French politicians remain deeply divided over how to address the country's growing deficit, one measure appears to unite public opinion across the political spectrum: the Zucman tax. Devised by 38-year-old economist Gabriel Zucman, the idea is to add a two percent tax on the ultra-rich, who often use holding companies to shield their wealth from income taxes. While the left sees it as fiscal justice, many on the right are concerned about additional taxes in a country that already has a lot, and maintain taxing the wealthiest will drive them abroad. (Listen @2')

Ali Akbar left his native Pakistan aged 18, looking to make enough money to buy his mother a decent home. Since arriving in France in 1973, he's managed to do just that – selling newspapers like Le Monde on the streets of Paris's Left Bank district. A popular figure in the neighbourhood, Akbar – the capital's last remaining hawker – was recently selected for the National Order of Merit by President Emmanuel Macron, a former customer. He talks about loving his work, the collapse of the newspaper culture and how recognition by France will help to "heal" the injuries of his past. (Listen @18'30'')

France abolished the death penalty on 9 October 1981. Forty-four years later, the justice minister who fought to change the law, Robert Badinter, is entering the Pantheon, the monument dedicated to French heroes. (Listen @11')

Episode mixed by Cécile Pompeani

Spotlight on France is a podcast from Radio France International. Find us on rfienglish.com, Apple podcasts (link here), Spotify (link here) or your favourite podcast app (pod.link/1573769878).