Reporters

Every year, North Koreans risk their lives trying to escape the regime in Pyongyang. For those who do manage to flee, neighbouring South Korea is the obvious destination. More than 34,000 North Korean defectors have entered the country since 1953. But they still find it difficult to adapt to life in a nation so geographically close to their own, yet so different. FRANCE 24's Chloé Borgnon and William de Tamaris report.

Egypt, the most populous country in the Arab world, is facing a crisis: a growing shortage of food and water. How do you feed a population of 113 million people – estimated to grow to 160 million over the next 25 years – when even water is running short? The Nile, Egypt's lifeline, is under stress. The government is drilling deep into the Sahara to tap underground aquifers and urging families to have fewer children. But are these measures enough? Edouard Dropsy and Mathilde Delvigne report.

Italy's southern Puglia region is the territory of the Sacra Corona Unita, also known as the "fourth mafia". Less well known than Cosa Nostra, the Camorra or the 'Ndrangheta, the criminal group is still very powerful. It has infiltrated all sections of Italian society, from local firms to public administration. Our reporters went to meet a group of women who are taking on this mafia group, despite the risks to their own lives.

In a country in the midst of change, where more and more women refuse to wear the veil despite the rules, conservatives are looking to maintain their grip on power. Nearly 180,000 clerics, or mullahs, preach the words of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Iran, but not all of them are ultra-conservative. Some have understood the need for dialogue, in a society divided by economic sanctions and the feminist uprising that followed the death in custody of Mahsa Amini back in 2022. Farad Fathi, a media-savvy cleric and a staunch supporter of the regime, is reaching out to young Iranians to convince them of the mullahs' ways. Charles Emptaz and Olivier Jobard report.

PFAS, better known as "forever chemicals", are ultra-resistant to water and heat – so much so that they are virtually indestructible in nature. These chemicals are everywhere in our daily lives – in clothes, cosmetics and kitchen utensils – and are poisoning us. FRANCE 24's reporters Cécile Khindria and Juliette Lacharnay went to meet the citizens who are taking on the industrial giants behind PFAS.

The banks of the Suchiate River in southern Mexico, on the border with Guatemala, are sometimes called "the silent border" of the United States. Tens of thousands of migrants pass through there every year. Although the United States is their goal, Mexico often ends up being their final destination. FRANCE 24's Laurence Cuvillier, Matthieu Comin and Jean-Marie Lebrun report.

In recent years, Spain has become a leading destination for tech giants to set up their data centres in Europe. Madrid even aims to become a "digital hub" on the continent, like Germany and the UK. But at what cost to the environment? To cool down their servers, data centres consume billions of litres of drinking water: a huge worry in Spain, one of the countries worst affected by drought in Europe. Our correspondent Armelle Exposito investigates the environmental impact of these data centres.

Since his inauguration for a second term on January 20, US President Donald Trump has been shaking US democracy to its core with his executive orders. By implementing drastic budget cuts, withdrawing from international agreements and ordering massive layoffs of federal employees, he is moving so fast that the courts can't keep up. The stated aim of the Trump administration is to cut public spending, but underlying this goal is a desire to reshape institutions according to a right-wing ideology. FRANCE 24's Fanny Allard and Fraser Jackson report.

The Sudanese army has just won the battle of Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, after two years of civil war. It is now calling on inhabitants to return home. But at what price? Our reporters were on the front line during the final phase of the offensive against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). Watch their exclusive 31-minute report.

The small Central American country of Honduras has become a hub for a devastating – yet often overlooked –  scourge: human trafficking, the third most profitable criminal activity in the world after drug and arms trafficking. Located between North and South America, Honduras is a key transit point for all kinds of trafficking. Endemic poverty, widespread violence and deep-rooted corruption have made it fertile ground for international human trafficking networks. Our correspondents Laurence Cuvillier and Matthieu Comin report.

Armenia, a tiny country of just three million people, is dealing with a population crisis that could threaten its very survival. A deadly war with neighbouring Azerbaijan in 2020 coupled with a high infertility rate has led to demographic decline. Now, the government is trying to reverse the trend and boost Armenia's population to five million by 2050, but also prepare a new generation for future conflicts. FRANCE 24's Ilioné Schultz reports.

In a quiet residential area of Brussels, tucked away among the modern and uniform facades of the Forest neighbourhood, sits a house that is giving birth to a unique project which could revolutionise our approach to the start and end of life. Here, expecting mothers and end-of-life patients live side by side, cared for respectively by midwives and volunteers. FRANCE 24's Alix Le Bourdon reports. 

One of the most polluted places in the world is located at the heart of the Niger Delta where decades of oil exploitation have ravaged the native flora. Fringing the delta of the Niger River, local mangrove forests are essential to biodiversity and the survival of local communities. In Nigeria, scientists, activists and lawyers are joining forces to protect and restore this ecosystem. Judith Rueff and Moïse Gomis immersed themselves in the daily lives of these men and women who refuse to give in to the catastrophe. A production by Factstory, Arte G.E.I.E. and FRANCE 24. 

Bangladesh is the country in Asia with the highest ratio of child marriages to its population. Some 38 million women are married before the age of 18, according to UNICEF – amounting to one in two women. This is despite the fact that child marriage has been illegal since a British empire-era law from 1929, with the legal age set at 18 for women and 21 for men. Despite the efforts of national and international organisations, the scourge persists. In recent years, the number of child marriages has remained alarmingly stable. FRANCE 24's Lisa Gamonet and Nabeel Ahmed report.

Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Serbia has become a refuge for Russians fleeing their country. We went to meet this new Russian diaspora which has become an integral part of Serbian society. These exiles, most of them opposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, have recreated a "miniature Russia" in the small Balkan country and invested massively in the local economy. Our correspondent reports. 

According to the United Nations, Sierra Leone is one of the countries most exposed to coastal erosion. More than two million people are threatened by rising sea levels. Even the capital, Freetown, and its informal settlements – built by reclaiming land from the sea – are on the brink of sinking. A phenomenon caused by climate change, but exacerbated by human activity. Submersion is accelerated by the country's extreme poverty, which pushes the population to destroy their environment in order to survive. FRANCE 24's Caitlin Kelly, Saidu Bah, Sarah Sakho and Simon Martin report.

FRANCE 24 brings you a special report on the new Hong Kong, with the freedom-loving former British colony undergoing a severe political, social and economic takeover by the authorities in Beijing. In what was until recently the last island of freedom in China, the Chinese Communist Party is imposing its rules and its model of society.

In the aftermath of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians rushed to military recruitment centres to defend their country. Almost three years of war later, the momentum has stalled. Our correspondent Gulliver Cragg reports.

While significant progress has been made globally in curbing the spread of HIV, the Philippines has one of the fastest-growing infection rates in the world. Despite opposition from the Catholic Church and other social challenges, activists are fighting to improve access to prevention and treatment. Nejma Bentrad and Alban Alvarez report.  

With Israel and Hamas on the cusp of a ceasefire in Gaza, our reporters investigated the strategy of the United Arab Emirates in the region. The oil and gas-rich Gulf monarchy – a Middle Eastern heavyweight which has a strong rivalry with neighbouring Qatar – is spreading its influence and preparing for the period after the war, when the bombs will finally fall silent in the Gaza Strip and focus will turn to reconstruction.

FRANCE 24 reveals, in partnership with investigative media outlet Disclose, RFI and the Pulitzer Center, that French banking group Crédit Agricole holds a €240 million stake in Repsol – a Spanish multinational responsible for gas extraction in the Peruvian Amazon – and is making substantial profits from it. According to our investigation, the gas firm is responsible for numerous environmental and health hazards.

Ten years after the genocide perpetrated against the Yazidis by the Islamic State group in Iraq's Sinjar region, tens of thousands of displaced survivors are returning home. But their homecoming is bittersweet, as the atrocities have left indelible wounds. FRANCE 24's Marie-Charlotte Roupie reports.

For many asylum seekers in France, the National Court of Asylum, or CNDA (Cour nationale du droit d'asile), represents their last chance to be granted asylum in the country. With their applications having already been rejected by the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (Ofpra), these men and women come, still hopeful, to the CNDA in the suburbs east of Paris. In this documentary by Yaël Goujon, FRANCE 24 looks at the inner workings of the justice system for asylum seekers in France, criticised by some as too lenient and too harsh by others.

Iraq, which has witnessed wars, embargoes and Islamic State rule, is a traumatised country with Eastern Christians among the first victims. Under Saddam Hussein, there were one and a half million of them in the country, but today only 150,000 remain. Many Iraqi Christians in exil dream of returning. We meet members of the diaspora who have chosen to rebuild their lives in Iraqi Kurdistan. 

At almost every French election, it's the same story: the far right makes significant gains. Under longtime leader Marine Le Pen, the party carried out a "de-demonisation" operation: changing its name from National Front to National Rally and softening its message while recruiting new faces. It has continued its journey into mainstream politics by joining the new "union of the right" with Eric Ciotti, former president of the conservative Les Républicains party. Our reporters went to meet National Rally supporters and their current leader, Jordan Bardella.

With around 40 percent of its territory covered by forests, Cambodia has become Asia's champion of carbon credits. This system is supposed to finance the protection of the country's forests, thanks to money injected by multinationals from around the world. For the past decade, big companies –  including French and American firms –  have spent millions of euros buying these credits to offset their carbon footprint. But our Cambodia correspondents' investigation reveals mass deforestation within these protected areas. In 2023, the kingdom had lost 121,000 hectares of forest – an area the size of Los Angeles.

Nearly three years after more than 100 countries promised to tame methane emissions, the indiscriminate leakage of this powerful greenhouse gas is still rampant. As world leaders convene in Azerbaijan for the COP29 climate summit, FRANCE 24's reporters follow the trail of methane leaks in Romania, home to one of Europe's largest oil reserves. 

A little over two years ago, on September 16, 2022, Mahsa Amini, a young Kurdish student, was beaten to death by the Iranian morality police over a few strands of hair escaping from her veil. This was seen as one injustice too many by the Iranian people, who began to rise up to the cries of "Woman, Life, Freedom". The crackdown was brutal and the highly anticipated revolution did not take place, but the fire of anger continued to smoulder under the ashes. This documentary takes a behind-the-scenes look at Iran's unprecedented popular uprising. A film by Shooresh Afkari and Virginie Plaut.

Since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, Republican stronghold Texas has become one of 22 states banning abortion, including in cases of incest or rape. Since the ban, Texas has seen a 56 percent increase in its maternal mortality rate. FRANCE 24's Valérie Defert and Pierrick Leurent report. 

In the United States, the majority of immigrants, as well as first and second-generation citizens, have historically voted for the Democratic Party. However, this trend has been declining in recent years, particularly among Latinos and those who have fled or left an authoritarian country. For these voters, the best bulwark against communism is the Republican Party, regardless of the racist rhetoric used by Donald Trump. They see in the left wing of the Democratic Party the spectre of the regimes they once knew and feared. Our correspondent Fanny Allard went to meet three of them.

It's the deadliest conflict in Lebanon since the 1975-1990 civil war. The current war between Hezbollah and Israel has set the whole country ablaze. The provisional death toll on the Lebanese side stands at more than 2,300, with 11,000 wounded, while thousands more are missing. The violence of the Israeli strikes has also provoked a mass exodus of the population: some 1.2 million people already have been forced to leave their homes, or a fifth of the population. Our Lebanon correspondents Chloé Domat and Sophie Guignon report.

A two-year investigation by FRANCE 24 has revealed that hunting cartridges produced by the French-Italian ammunition manufacturer Cheddite were used in Iran during the violent crackdown on the "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests in 2022. The investigation uncovers how these cartridges are widely available in Iran, despite European sanctions imposed in 2011. It appears the ammunition may have been routed through Turkey, where Cheddite at one point held shares in a weapons manufacturing company. This investigation, broadcast by FRANCE 24, sheds light on the dealings that allowed the ammunition to reach Iranian soil, despite international sanctions.

A year after Palestinian armed groups breached Gaza's security fence and led a simultaneous wave of assaults on Israeli communities and outposts, FRANCE 24 looks at the intelligence failures that led to the October 7 attacks. There was plenty of warning that Hamas was planning a large-scale assault: suspicious movements along the border with Gaza, as well as a huge military parade taking place inside the enclave. But Israeli authorities ignored them. FRANCE 24's Claire Duhamel examines how the threat from Hamas was underestimated at the highest echelons of the Israeli army and state. 

In the Ferghana Valley of Central Asia, neighbouring Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are at loggerheads over crucial water resources. This territorial dispute is exacerbated by climate change and the gradual melting of glaciers in the region. Is the future of the Ferghana Valley at risk? FRANCE 24's Marie Boyer and Germain Baslé report.

It's known as “Taiwan's chewing gum”. Betel, a nut as hated as it is loved, occupies a special place in the island's culture. This stimulant is consumed by hundreds of thousands of people, mainly from working-class backgrounds, and supports just as many others. But few people know that this nut is carcinogenic and kills thousands of people every year. FRANCE 24's Lucie Barbazanges reports.

As the world's top cocoa producer, Ivory Coast faces many challenges – first and foremost the fight against illegal smuggling of this "brown gold". Some cocoa farmers consider the prices set by the state for their beans far too low. They prefer to sell the fruit of their harvest to traffickers, who then resell it across the border in Guinea or Liberia at much more attractive prices. This is a major loss of revenue for the Ivorian government, which also has to deal with the challenges of traceability and deforestation. Our Ivory Coast correspondents Julia Guggenheim and Damien Koffi investigate.

Press freedom is in crisis in the "world's largest democracy" with attacks against journalists, concentration of media ownership, pro-government bias and expulsions of foreign reporters. Since India's Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi came to power in 2014, several mainstream Indian TV channels have effectively turned into government mouthpieces.

In Port-au-Prince, nearly three million people are living in the grips of an asphyxiating gang war. The crisis continues despite the arrival of the first Kenyan police officers as part of a UN-backed multinational force to stem the violence. Although this international effort offers a glimmer of hope, few residents believe it could provide an effective or long-lasting solution. FRANCE 24's Catherine Norris-Trent and Roméo Langlois bring you behind the scenes of this exclusive 52-minute documentary. 

Rwandans are expected to re-elect Paul Kagame to a fourth term in next month's presidential election. Having guided the country since he put an end to the genocide of the Tutsis in 1994, the president presents himself as a father figure, guaranteeing stability and prosperity for millions of citizens. For the past 24 years, he has been re-elected with no less than 93 percent of the vote. Most Rwandans under the age of 30 have only known Kagame as head of state. But many observers describe his regime, in which only one opposition party is tolerated, as authoritarian. Although the overwhelming majority of young people fully back the presidential party, some are looking for change. Our reporters went to meet the "Kagame generation".

On May 24, a landslide devastated a whole village in one of the poorest regions of Papua New Guinea, a country north of Australia that's home to 10 million inhabitants. According to the UN, 670 people were killed but very few bodies have been found so far. A week after the disaster, our Asia correspondent Constantin Simon went to meet survivors – some of who are children who lost their entire families. Assistance is slow to arrive and is complicated by the ongoing violence. Papua New Guinea's Enga province, where the disaster hit, is ravaged by tribal wars. 

Forest fires in Canada have never been quite so destructive. In 2023, some 15 million hectares – the equivalent of more than a quarter of mainland France – went up in flames. Canada is warming faster than the world as a whole and 2023, the world's hottest year on record, was inevitably challenging. Firefighters, rescue workers and residents of at-risk localities are learning to live with the ever-increasing risk of devastating fires. Our correspondents François Rihouay and Joanne Profeta report.    

In China, the ruling Communist Party encourages women to focus on motherhood and the home, rather than self-emancipation. While some Chinese feminists have tried to denounce the inequality and discrimination they face, their numbers are dwindling amid a crackdown by authorities. Our correspondents report.

In August 2013, a chemical attack using sarin gas was perpetrated in Syria's Ghouta region, northeast of Damascus, killing some 1,400 people. Attributed to the regime of Bashar al-Assad, the crime remains unpunished to this day. But Syrian refugees in Europe are fighting for justice. Activists, lawyers and witnesses have set out to track down those responsible, some of whom live in France. Yet many obstacles remain: the few witnesses living in exile fear reprisals on their families who have stayed behind, while there is no access to Assad's Syria, making it impossible to carry out investigations on the ground. FRANCE 24's Dana Alboz brings us this exclusive 27-minute documentary. Warning: viewers may find some images upsetting.

Located off Morocco, Spain's Canary Islands are facing their worst migrant crisis since 2006. In just one year, 30,000 migrants have arrived on the archipelago. The smallest island, El Hierro, saw 4,000 arrive in January alone. Despite locals and NGOs coming together to help out, El Hierro is overwhelmed. FRANCE 24's Clara Le Nagard and Armelle Exposito report, with Sarah Morris.

Japan's low birth and marriage rates would suggest that the country's citizens have given up on love. That assumption could not be further from the truth. Many Japanese are indeed searching for that special someone, just not the conventional kind. Despite Japan still lagging behind on LGBT+ rights (same-sex weddings are still illegal) the country has become a laboratory for new types of relationships – digital, solitary or even devoid of sex. Could it be a model for the future? Our reporters Alexis Brégère and Mélodie Sforza went to find out.

In Ivory Coast, would-be migrants who return home are known locally as "the cursed". With their dream of a better life abroad in tatters, they also face stigma and rejection from their families and communities. Yassin Ciyow and Guillaume Collanges went to meet them.

The Latin American nation of Ecuador has been experiencing an unprecedented security crisis for several months. In the port city of Guayaquil, now under the control of drug gangs, residents are living in fear.

In October 2023, for the first time in the history of the Catholic Church, women were allowed to participate in and vote at the Synod of Bishops, a religious gathering that had previously been reserved only for bishops. The landmark event came amid calls from feminists in many countries for the ordination of women priests and a more inclusive Church. Since the 11th century, only men have been allowed to be ordained as priests and perform the sacraments.

The US-Mexico border is the most dangerous land frontier in the world, according to the United Nations, but it's also the one with the most crossings. Since January 2023, 2.3 million migrants have been apprehended by border police after entering the United States illegally, an all-time high that does not include migrants who got through without being arrested or taken charge of, or those who died trying to cross. The situation has become unmanageable for Texas border towns like Eagle Pass, which has become the epicentre of these illegal arrivals. Our correspondent Fanny Allard reports.

Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has made saving the Amazon rainforest – now a key condition for a trade deal between the EU and South America's Mercosur bloc – a priority for his government. A year after Lula came to power, his gamble has paid off: deforestation has been halved in the Amazon. But this success comes at the cost of sacrificing another ecosystem that's just as vital to Brazil: the Cerrado. This savanna has already lost half of its natural vegetation due to intensive farming, notably for soya and maize. FRANCE 24's Fanny Lothaire, Louise Raulais and Anne-Laure Desarnauts report.

Thirty years ago, more than 800,000 people were killed during the genocide of the Tutsis in Rwanda. Among them were several dozen members of Dafroza Gauthier's family. A few months later, the young woman and her French husband decided to track down those suspected of taking part in the mass slaughter who had taken refuge in France. Journalists Thomas Zribi and Stéphane Jobert followed the Franco-Rwandan couple in their quest for justice. They bring us this special 52-minute documentary.