Perspective

An up-and-coming soul star has spoken to FRANCE 24 about her love for music, and her new collaboration with the megastar Elton John. Nectar Woode was raised in the UK by British Ghanaian parents, and is already becoming a huge star with a series of releases, her latest called "Naturally". She also gave us the exclusive news that her next track due out in June has Elton John playing keyboards. She spoke to us in Perspective.

A vaccination and epidemic response adviser who is about to fly out to DR Congo to try to help in the fight against Ebola has told FRANCE 24 that the signs are the current outbreak will be a serious one. Already more than 130 people have been killed, with over 500 more cases detected. John Johnson is vaccination and epidemic response advisor at MSF and is due to fly to DR Congo on Thursday. He explained that part of the problem is that tests had been carried out for a more common strain of Ebola, so they were coming back negative. He spoke to us in Perspective.

A Palestinian and Israeli who have both lost family members in the conflict in the Middle East spoke to Perspective about their message of hope for the world. Aziz Abu Sarah is a Palestinian whose brother was killed by the Israeli military, and Maoz Inon an Israeli whose parents were killed by Hamas in October of 2023.  It was after their deaths, that Aziz reached out to Maoz, and from that moment grew their book “The future of Peace: A Shared Journey Across the Holy Land”, which is also now being launched in French as “La Paix est notre Avenir”.

A British photographer who lives in Kyiv has told FRANCE 24 how he doesn't believe the war in Ukraine is coming to an end. Mark Neville takes his photographs to tell the real stories of the Ukrainian people as they fight for their country against the Russian invasion. Amid the latest more positive news from the front line and further signs that Ukraine is finding new ways of fighting back, he says it is best to take things one day at a time. He also says that while Russian leader Vladimir Putin is obviously under pressure, that does not necessarily mean the end of the conflict is around the corner. He spoke to us in Perspective.

A photographer and filmmaker who's published a book of incredible photographs from the six countries that span the Congo Basin has spoken to FRANCE 24 about his love for the rainforest. Thomas Nicolon used to be FRANCE 24's correspondent in Kinshasa, and says he's been very fortunate to build a career out of his childhood dreams. His book "Kongo" takes us on a journey through the world's second-largest tropical rainforest of nearly 4 million square kilometres. He spoke to us in Perspective.

An international award-winning documentary maker has told FRANCE 24 that his expulsion from Hong Kong proves that the city is no longer what it was. Antoine Védeilhé has been covering Hong Kong for years and was aiming to make a documentary about how life has changed there under Chinese rule. The authorities, though, detained him at the airport and forced him to leave.

Every single second, two pieces of child sexual abuse material are shared online. Now, an international group that fights to address the causes and effects of sexual violence against children and adolescents is singling out France for particular criticism. The NGO Cameleon says that France, and the rest of Europe as well, is becoming a haven for online child sexual abuse content.

Black journalists remain underrepresented in French media and for those who do break in, the barriers don't end there. From elite journalism schools to newsroom hiring, many describe a system shaped by exclusion, stereotypes and unequal opportunity. So how deep does the problem go, and what needs to change? Those questions are at the heart of a round table here in Paris this Thursday on the experiences of Black journalists. Journalist Estelle Ndjandjo is the host. She spoke to us in Perspective.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is facing his biggest test yet as the UK heads to the polls on Thursday for local elections. Voters in England will be charged with picking their local councillors, while in Scotland and Wales, representatives of the devolved parliaments will be elected. Polls are already predicting the ruling Labour Party will suffer its worst results in decades, with Reform UK and the Green Party expected to make gains. We look ahead to the vote with Colm Murphy, senior lecturer in British politics at Queen Mary University. 

The 13th edition of the NollywoodWeek Film Festival is back in Paris, with a theme of "Voyage", taking audiences to Nigeria and beyond. It's an industry worth over $6 billion and growing fast, but it's also at a turning point, caught between global expansion and the pressures of streaming, technology and who gets to tell its stories. Serge Noukoué, co-founder of the NollywoodWeek Film Festival, spoke to us in Perspective.

He's spent more than two decades documenting the realities of war, including years working alongside US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. But photographer Peter van Agtmael's work goes beyond the battlefield. He's equally interested in how those wars echo back home, and that's the focus of his photo book "Look at the U.S.A.: A Diary of War and Home". By pairing images of conflict with jarring snapshots of everyday American life in the post-9/11 era, he draws a stark connection between distant conflicts and their lasting impact on life in the United States. He spoke to us in Perspective.

A Beirut-based filmmaker whose debut feature film has been described as an ode to the collective courage of the Lebanese people has spoken to FRANCE 24 about the film and her love for the city. Lana Daher has spent years working in Beirut and the last six years delving through thousands of hours of footage from Lebanon. That work comes together in her film "Do You Love Me". She spoke to us in Perspective.

One of the world's leading historians on the Palestinian people has told FRANCE 24 about how there is a future basis for peace in the region. Rashid Khalidi has spent years writing a series of books on the region and its conflicts, often through the eyes of his own family. He says that millions of people are not going to leave their land, so there's a basis for the two peoples to figure something out. Khalidi is in Paris for several appearances, including at the Arab World Institute. He spoke to us in Perspective.

"Far-right France" is the title of a panel discussion being held this Tuesday at the American Library in Paris. The panel will talk about the past, present and future of France's far-right movements, exactly one year head of crucial French presidential elections for which the far right is riding high in the polls. But can it actually go all the way and win? We put that question to one of the panelists, Victor Mallet, who is senior editor at the Financial Times and author of "Far-right France: Le Pen, Bardella and the Future of Europe".

A French makeup artist who has worked regularly at the White House, including at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner itself, has spoken to FRANCE 24 about her experience and the security surrounding the US president. Audrey Lefèvre has made up Presidents Bill Clinton and Joe Biden, as well as more recently Ivanka Trump and other members of the Trump family. She says the gunman at the dinner on Saturday only breached the first of many levels of security.

Lebanon's country director for the charity CARE has told FRANCE 24 that life for the Lebanese is a perpetual challenge that people have to overcome. Michael Adams says the ceasefire there is very fragile, and the constant infractions mean people don't have confidence in it. He told us about how many people have to live either in the streets, or in cars, parks or stadiums, and how so many of them are traumatised by the conflict. He spoke to us in Perspective.

A risk management analyst has spoken to FRANCE 24 about what it means, amid the ceasefire, if the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed. Paymon Azmoudeh is a senior consultant with the risk and compliance practice at Forward Global. He says he thinks the calculation on all sides is that going back to war is not in anyone's interest. He explained to us in Perspective what it means if the status quo continues with the ceasefire largely holding, but the economic impasse ongoing.

A former US Poet Laureate has told FRANCE 24 how we should stop making poems feel like puzzles, and instead embrace them as a way to help us in our perilous times. Tracy K. Smith is now a Harvard professor and the author of five poetry collections, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Life on Mars". Her book "Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times", is being discussed here in Paris this Tuesday. She spoke to us in Perspective.

Less than a week after a fragile ceasefire was announced in Lebanon, a senior Anglophone journalist in the country has spoken to FRANCE 24 about the devastation people are seeing as they start to return home. Thousands of homes have been destroyed in the conflict, and more than a million people displaced. Iva Kovic-Chahine, the head of L'Orient Today, also told us how people are closely following the peace process between Iran and the US, as Lebanon has become something of a card played by Tehran. She spoke to us in Perspective.

A woman who came to the world's attention at the age of just 16 has spoken to FRANCE 24 about how helping women has been an honour for her. Now 22, as a teenager Bohlale Mphahlele invented what she calls the Alerting Earpiece, designed to help protect women against sexual predators. She spoke to us in Perspective about how she continues to fight for women today.

On the third anniversary of the start of the war in Sudan, which has killed tens of thousands of people, an aid worker from one of the main NGOs still there has spoken to FRANCE 24 about the starvation of the people. She also spoke about the incredible way the Sudanese come together to try to help each other. 

An intimacy coordinator has spoken to FRANCE 24 about how their role is to ensure that everyone's humanity is respected on a film or television set. Paloma Garcia Martens has made a career working on some of Europe's top film and television shows, giving advice primarily to actors and actresses about how to achieve the perfect love scene with someone you probably don't want to be with, while being watched by potentially hundreds of crew. Her book is entitled "L'intimité sur un plateau", or "Intimacy on set". She spoke to us in Perspective.

Reactions have been pouring in after the election of Peter Magyar as Hungary's next prime minister, defeating Viktor Orban after 16 years in power. In Perspective, we spoke to Financial Times South-East Europe correspondent Marton Dunai, who said Magyar's two-thirds majority gives him a powerful mandate and makes real change in Hungary now feasible.

The Executive Director of the Arab Reform Initiative told FRANCE 24 how chaos erupted during Israel's attacks on Beirut. Nadim Houry was on the phone with colleagues as Israel struck around a hundred targets in just ten minutes. He said the attacks on Lebanon could stop immediately if Donald Trump called Benjamin Netanyahu to make clear that the US would no longer supply Israel with weapons. He spoke to us in Perspective.

A former NATO general tells FRANCE 24 he feared his former colleagues would become war criminals overnight. Michel Yakovleff says US forces are trained to refuse unlawful orders, such as wanton destruction of infrastructure, which is exactly what US President Donald Trump threatened before the two-week ceasefire was announced. He says the war in the Middle East is pointless, and that he does not see Trump returning to violence no matter the outcome of the forthcoming peace talks. We talked to him in Perspective.

As another ten people have been killed in an airstrike in central Gaza, an NGO speaks to FRANCE 24 about the ongoing catastrophic situation for Palestinians, both in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The latest incident comes despite a fragile ceasefire put in place last October. As the world's attention has turned towards the war in and surrounding Iran, millions of Palestinians still need basic help just to survive. In Perspective we spoke to Elsa Softic, deputy chief operations officer at Première Urgence Internationale.

The health of humans, animals, and the entire ecosystem is inextricably linked. This message is at the heart of the One Health Summit, currently underway in France, where global health leaders are gathering. The summit aims to explore future strategies, particularly using emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, to ensure – and even improve – the delicate balance between these elements. We spoke to Antoine Tesnière, who advised the French government during the Covid pandemic, about how new technologies could have saved lives had they been available at the time.

As the Artemis 2 mission blasts off for the Moon, an expert has spoken to FRANCE 24 about NASA's plans to return sustainably. Olivier Sanguy, head of Space News at the Cité de l'Espace (Space City) in Toulouse, southern France, says reusable spacecraft could significantly reduce costs. He spoke to us in Perspective.

Sexual violence has become a hallmark of conflict in Sudan, according to a new report from MSF, as the country approaches the fourth anniversary of its civil war. The report highlights the scale of devastation inflicted on civilians in Darfur, set against an even longer history of repeated cycles of violence and atrocity. It reveals that in 2024 and 2025 nearly 3,400 survivors of sexual violence sought care at MSF health facilities across northern and southern Darfur – 97 per cent of them women and girls. In Perspective, we spoke to Amande Bazerolle, Deputy Emergency Operations Manager for Sudan.

A leading Iranian archaeologist has told FRANCE 24 that the destruction of Iranian archeological sites is destroying part of human history. Sepideh Maziar is a senior researcher and lecturer at Goethe University Frankfurt and a founding member of the Society for Iranian Archaeology. Along with her colleagues, she has built an interactive map of sites in Iran that have been damaged. The aim is to try to preserve the memory of the Iranian people and their achievements amid the constant bombing. We spoke to her in Perspective.

A Franco-American jazz and soul singer has spoken to FRANCE 24 about her love for music and her deep reservations of streaming platforms like Spotify. China Moses is the daughter of jazz singer Dee Dee Bridgewater and director Gilbert Moses. Her latest album is called "It's complicated". She spoke to us in Perspective about how her music is published, staying off most streaming devices.

A man who suffered extreme grief after the sudden death of his wife has spoken to FRANCE 24 about his project to travel to every single country in the world, and how it brought him out of his grief. Barry Hoffner first took one trip and found that his reconnection with people was helping him to heal. He discovered a way of shifting from grief to the idea that there was something left in life. His book is entitled "Belonging to the World: A Journey from Grief to Connection in Every Country on Earth". He spoke to us in Perspective.

The author of a new book has spoken to FRANCE 24 about how the Larzac protests in France from 1971 became a modern-day template for demonstrations across the world. The protests began after the French government announced a huge extension of a military base on the Larzac plateau, referring to the farmers living there as "a few peasants" in "French Siberia". This sparked much anger, and residents ended up swearing oaths never to be forced from their land, pioneering regional radicalism for years to come. The author of the book "Make cheese not war. Transnational resistance and the Larzac in modern France" is Andrew Smith. He spoke to us in Perspective.

A leading author is speaking in Paris about the French capital's ability to draw gay and bisexual people to it. Rasheed Newson's talk is entitled "From Baldwin to Today: Queer Black Expats in Paris". He says that many queer African Americans seeking freedom and creative possibility have come to Paris due to its openness to queer people. Newson is the author of the bestseller "My Government Means to Kill Me", and has a new book is coming out shortly, "There's Only One Sin in Hollywood: A Novel". He spoke to us in Perspective.

One of the world's top authors, whose books have been translated into more than 25 languages, has spoken to FRANCE 24 about his pride in being European. The Danish author Jens Christian Grøndahl, who has had notable success at home and in France, says he loves the fact that in Europe you can travel for just a few hours and be in a completely different cultural setting, but at the same time the people share the same roots.

A man who lost his wife after she was shot dead in her car in the Philippines a decade ago with their children in the back seat has spoken to FRANCE 24 of the trauma of such an event, and how his family has got through what happened. Stuart J. Green lost not only his wife, but also his job and the country he'd been living in for 25 years, leaving him with three traumatised children to look after. He found little help in the world of literature, so he decided to write his own book to try to help others facing extreme trauma. Green is the author of "The Regenerate Leap" and spoke to us in Perspective.

The former president of Columbia University in New York, which was at the centre of sometimes violent protests against the war in Gaza, has spoken to FRANCE 24 about the importance of free speech and how universities have to teach it. Lee C. Bollinger is president emeritus of Columbia University; he ran it until just a year before the protests broke out. The university has long been known as a bastion of freedom of expression in the United States.

A British photographer who has spent the last four years living under near-daily attacks on Kyiv has told FRANCE 24 that his nervous system has adapted to the war in Ukraine. Mark Neville says he feels he now has an advantage over people living in the rest of Europe, as his body has naturally adapted to the situation. He has set up a charity, Postcode Ukraine, which makes deliveries of humanitarian aid to frontline towns. Neville also takes photos of the people he meets to bring their stories to the wider world as the war drags on, and has had great success with his book "Diary of a Volunteer". He spoke to us in Perspective.

A leading Lebanese academic has spoken of his feelings of déjà vu as Israel admits it has launched what it calls a limited ground operation in the south of Lebanon. Karim Emile Bitar is professor at Saint Joseph University of Beirut and at Sciences Po University in Paris. He says that from experience, Israel mostly manages to destroy its enemies when it enters into Lebanon, but is never able to bring stability to its northern border, and it's the Lebanese people who pay the price. He spoke to us in Perspective.

Sparking turmoil in global energy markets and undermining Gulf countries' reputations for economic stability is all part of the Iranian regime's strategy, according to a Middle East analyst. Speaking to FRANCE 24, Paymon Azmoudeh, senior consultant in the risk and compliance practice at Forward Global, explains that Tehran hopes to pressure Washington to end the war. Iran, he says, is very aware of the political risks for Donald Trump if the global – and US – economy takes a hit, especially with mid-term elections later this year. “When you have Abbas Araghchi, for example, the foreign minister, going on Fox News and NBC […] they're basically making a mid-term pitch,” he adds.

With 570 people killed and more than 750,000 displaced amid fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon finds itself in what Iva Kovic-Chahine, head of the Beirut-based news outlet L'Orient Today, describes as an “absurd” situation. She tells FRANCE 24 that many Lebanese felt “intense rage” after the Iran-backed group fired rockets into Israel to protest the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The Lebanese government faces growing pressure to enter direct talks with Israel to end the fighting, though Kovic-Chahine warns of a “vicious circle” between calls for negotiations and demands for Hezbollah's disarmament.

After accusing Israel of “unlawfully” using white phosphorus over residential areas of a southern Lebanese town last week, Human Rights Watch says Israel “must be pressured by its allied countries” to prevent such incidents from happening again. Speaking to FRANCE 24, HRW Communications Director for the Middle East and North Africa, Ahmed Benchemsi, said countries could “even impose targeted sanctions on officials who are credibly implicated in grave crimes”. White phosphorus, which ignites upon contact with oxygen, can cause extreme harm to humans. “It can burn people not only thermally, but also chemically, down to the bone,” Benchemsi emphasised.

One week after hostilities resumed between Israel and Hezbollah, UNICEF has sounded the alarm over the situation for children in Lebanon. According to the health ministry, more than 80 children have been killed in the fighting. Christophe Boulierac, UNICEF Lebanon's chief of advocacy and communication, told FRANCE 24 that Lebanese children have suffered “deep psychological and emotional scars” that have accumulated since clashes between Israel and Hezbollah intensified during the Gaza war. He said many children now “internalise the idea of death”, adding that “childhood in Lebanon is just not OK now”.

The former head of the French military mission to the UN has spoken to FRANCE 24 about how long the war in the Middle East could go on. General Dominique Trinquand says the war is now a logistics battle, which depends entirely on how many drones and missiles, and the means of launching them, remain. The difficulty for the US and Israel is that they know exactly how many they have, but it is much harder to know how many the Iranians can rely on. He spoke to us in Perspective.

One of the officials leading efforts to provide humanitarian aid for people who have been forced to flee their homes in Lebanon has told FRANCE 24 that the needs are immense. Many of those displaced are from the capital Beirut, amid the Israeli bombings there. Others are from the south of the country, where Israeli forces are carrying out what they call a limited incursion as they tell civilians to leave their homes. In Perspective, we spoke to Adéa Guillot from CARE France.

The deputy director of the European Council on Foreign Relations' Paris office has spoken to FRANCE 24 about how European nations are already being sucked into the war in Iran. Camille Lons pointed out that although any direct help for the US or Israel has been labelled as only defensive, attacks on French and British bases have already occurred. She noted that other major issues such as energy prices and the provision of weapons – bearing in mind European requirements for supplies to Ukraine – could also be impacted if the war goes on. She spoke to us in Perspective.

A male ballet dancer has spoken to FRANCE 24 about his love for ballet and his aim to encourage more men to dance en pointe. The art of dancing on the tip of your toes is usually seen as a musical box-style female role, but Kadeem En Pointe has trained himself to be able to do it as well. He spoke to us in Perspective about his desire to inspire people through dance.

The author of a new book that warns of the breakdown of the nation-state – the system that provides essential pillars such as citizenship, the law, the economy and healthcare – is warning that the current system risks collapsing. On the day that US President Donald Trump delivered his State of the Union speech in Washington, Rana Dasgupta says that states are struggling to uphold the constitution and the rule of law. He says that the post-1945 period has been exceptional and we are now entering a stage where the interests of states are diverging from the interests of their citizens. He spoke to us in Perspective.

As the world marks the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Estonia's ambassador to France has spoken to FRANCE 24 about his country's determination to continue to support Ukraine and its allies in Europe. Estonia shares a nearly 300-kilometre border with Russia and is today celebrating its National Day. Viljar Lubi told us in Perspective that while Russia is lingering in the past, Europe wants to move on.

As the world marks the fourth anniversary of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Swedish ambassador to France has spoken of her country's commitment to the Ukrainian cause. It is now almost two years since Sweden joined NATO after years of being a nonaligned country. Caroline Vicini says it was a big but necessary step for Sweden. She spoke to us in Perspective.

The woman who first theorised the idea of the male gaze has spoken to FRANCE 24 about her delight that her theories still resonate so much today. British feminist film theorist Laura Mulvey first wrote her essay back in 1975. But she says the phrase captured the popular imagination and has found its place in other areas of the arts. She spoke to us in Perspective about the positive and negative changes her theories have brought about.