Ankur Desai

Part cultural and religious conference, part trade fair, this event is organised by an association called Muslims of France, which critics say is linked to the International Muslim Brotherhood.

The French government is on principle ill-disposed to it because it fears the group promotes separatism.

But the reason given for trying to enforce a ban was the international context, the war on Iran and an increasingly polarised political atmosphere in France.

The risk of terrorism against Muslims could not be ignored, the government said.

Far-right groups might seek to disrupt proceedings and foreign influencers might try to stage a provocation.

But the organisers sought an injunction to overturn the ban and just in time they got it.

The court ruling that police had failed to substantiate that there was a serious risk to public order.

For the organisers, the suspicion is that the government was looking for a reason to have the assembly stopped.

Hugh Schofield reporting.

Still to come in this podcast.

They don't mate often and octopuses actually don't interact often.

They're solitary.

When they do interact, they're very aggressive.

And so we wanted to observe mating in the lab.

The new findings on how octopuses mate.

Renkaat ja autohuolto.

This is the Global News Podcast.

Next, Burkina Faso's leader has told the people there they can forget about democracy in an interview on national TV.

Captain Ibrahim Traore rolled back on plans to hold elections, despite promising them four years ago when he seized power.

His rights record has come under a lot of criticism, most recently by Human Rights Watch.