It takes convincing these days to get China’s leader to go abroad. Xi Jinping’s just wrapped up what was only his first foreign visit of 2026. Why Pyongyang? Hard to deduce from official readouts of that two-day state visit to neighboring North Korea. Politeness after a pair of visits by Kim Jong Un to Beijing? Celebrations of the 65th anniversary of their mutual defense pact?

As Ethiopians head to the polls, François Picard is pleased to welcome Jervin Naidoo, Political Analyst at Oxford Economics Africa. While official narratives emphasise stability and democratic progress, significant portions of the country remain excluded from voting, raising concerns about representation, legitimacy, and the consolidation of power. Naidoo argues that while voting has proceeded in much of the country, the exclusion of Tigray and dozens of constituencies elsewhere constitutes "a big problem" that "hurts the government's legitimacy."

If the first thing Europeans think of when they fill up at the pump is Donald Trump's decision to attack Iran, it's little wonder that previously pro-Maga populists are quietly distancing themselves from the president of the United States. In fact, Trump actively campaigning for Peter Magyar's rival actually helped Hungary’s new conservative prime minister boot out his predecessor of 16 years Viktor Orban… Magyar who hopes to cash in this week with a deal to unlock more than 10 billion euros in frozen EU funds. If Budapest’s no longer MAGA’s European headquarters…then where do fellow travelers turn in places like France, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands? Do they instead double down on the love for Russia’s Vladimir Putin like Germany’s far-right? For hardened eurosceptics, does the master of the Kremlin still seem like an invincible nationalist when he's bogged down in Ukraine? So, cozy up to outside superpowers... like Britain's Nigel Farage who's long been enamored with Trump… or as shown by recent revelations surrounding the same Reform UK leader… instead find a billionaire with a bee in his bonnet to bankroll you?

Here's one for free speech absolutists to chew on: What should the French government do when the former head of Russian state television's French-language channel is offered a place of rank on an all-news station with a free-to-air broadcast license and she touts Kremlin propaganda lines with little or no pushback or fact-checking? Introducing Xenia Fedorova, who's just had her 10-year residency permit approved and who's become the darling of far-right shipping magnate-turned-media mogul Vincent Bolloré, the same Bolloré who’s swooped for French TV, radio, print and publishing outlets.

About that four-week campaign that the Pentagon promised… Overnight volleys between Iran and the United States met by many with a shrug…so often has the current ceasefire been violated. Even the deal in the works is mostly to roll over that fragile truce and open more talks… not to permanently settle differences.Ceasefires and their violations the norm...as Israel and Hezbollah continue to trade blows and US-brokered truces for both Lebanon and Gaza go mostly ignored. We’ll ask if the taking of the Crusaders-era castle at Beaufort’s a PR stunt or are Israelis digging in at what was an army command center for nearly two decades during the last occupation of south Lebanon?

We're joined by Renée Bertini, a journalist with ENTR's English-language team, who takes us to Martinique, one of France's overseas departments in the Caribbean. She explains the main issues faced by young people in Martinique (a lack of academic and job opportunities, as well as a complex colonial legacy) and how this situation is pushing so many of them to leave for mainland France.

He believed those who insisted he could wrap it all up by end of March, long before the November midterms. If not, the off-ramp would be easy to find. But did Donald Trump factor in that his main ally in the war against Iran was also guearing up for a campaign. Benjamin Netanyahu is running for re-election.

The list runs long, strategic sectors where Europe's rarely the master of its own destiny, energy, manufacturing, even its nuclear deterrence. How about digital? Who even owns the personal data of its own citizens? The European Commission this Wednesday unveiling its tech sovereignty roadmap.

What exactly is the issue with Arsenal? Here in France, we just assume that everyone in England's enamoured with the storied team of Arsène Wenger, Thierry Henry, Patrick Vieira…and all the other greats all the way to the present and French international defender William Saliba. Ahead of Arsenal versus Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final, our panel delves into the not-always-rational, always impassionate world of football fandom. So regarding the side that’s just won its first Premier League title in 22 years, is it about the way they play? Their attitude? An anti-London sentiment? An anti-north London sentiment? Contrast that with the love the Gunners get here in France and in much of Africa. 

François Picard is pleased to welcome Dr. Jean-Marc Dreyfus, Historian, Professor of Modern History at the University of Manchester, Chief Editor of 'La Revue d'Histoire de la Shoah' and one of the curators of the Shoah Memorial in Paris photography exhibit highlighting the discovery of 98 previously unknown photographs documenting the May 14, 1941 roundup of foreign Jews in Paris. It represents one of the most significant visual revelations in Holocaust historiography in recent years, the images capturing what Dr. Dreyfus calls "a real discovery for history, for our memory," offering an almost minute-by-minute account of a largely forgotten precursor to the infamous Vel' d'Hiv roundup of July 1942.

FRANCE 24's François Picard welcomes Reggie Washington, American jazz bassist and founding member of the Black Lives collective. Sonny Rollins, one of jazz's greats, has passed away aged 95. Often called the "Saxophone Colossus" after his groundbreaking 1965 album, Rollins left a lasting mark on jazz.

François Picard is pleased to welcome Solène Podevin-Favre, President of the "Face à l'inceste" advocacy and support group and a former co-director of the Ciivise, an independent commission set up in 2021 to come up with proposals to fight sexual abuse of children. According to Podevin-Favre, the murder of 11-year-old Lyhanna is not an isolated tragedy. It is a "systemic failure" that has been repeatedly identified, documented and reported for years.