Amanpour

With reproductive rights under attack in America, a world first as France makes abortion a constitutional right. CNN's Melissa Bell explains how US politics galvanized this history-making moment.

Then, Christiane asks French President Emmanuel Macron’s former minister for gender equality Marlène Schiappa if America’s reputation has been damaged abroad by turning back the clock on the right to choose.

Meantime, more than 110 Israeli hostages have been released from Hamas captivity since the war began. But 130 remain in Gaza - 99 of them believed still alive - but with no word of their condition. Chen Almog Goldstein lived to tell her harrowing story of survival in Hamas captivity. Her husband and eldest daughter were murdered in front of her, just before she and her three remaining children were kidnapped and taken to Gaza. She describes her torment, and tells Christiane why her captors wouldn’t let her cry.

Then, the US and Jordan airdropped food into Gaza this week, as the UN warned that widespread famine was now “almost inevitable.” Now parents in Gaza tell CNN their children are dying of hunger and dehydration. CNN’s Nada Bashir has their story.

It was a close call for the Ukrainian President this week, after a Russian missile exploded near his convoy. It was also a jolting reminder of just how dire the situation is. Nowhere is this war more real than on the frontlines, where Ukraine is rationing munitions while it waits for ammo and aid from the US. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh sees the struggle firsthand.

From the Amanpour Archive this week: shock therapy and poverty in capitalist-curious Russia, and how moonlighting as a taxi driver fueled Vladimir Putin’s rise to power.

And finally, ahead of the Academy Awards, Christiane revisits her interview with Mstyslav Chernov the director of 20 Days in Mariupol, which is odds-on favorite to win best documentary. If we don't report “the reality of war,” he tells Christiane, “it becomes acceptable.”

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After a week in which the election race was all but confirmed as a Biden-Trump rematch, pundits - and likely many voters - were listening and watching closely to the current president's State of the Union address. They were met with a fiery address, as Biden weaved between issues including the economy, the border, the Middle East, and even his own age. So, have Democratic fears been allayed? What does the address signal for the next 8 months of campaigning? Anat Shenker-Osorio is a political communication strategist, who joins the show from California. 

Also on today's show: Rachel Cockerell, Author, “Melting Point”; Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Author, "Americanah"; Charan Ranganath, Author, “Why We Remember” 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

On this day five months ago, Hamas stormed out of Gaza and into Israel. Israel says they murdered 1,200 people and took 240 others hostage. Across Israel, families are taking to the streets to demand that their government prioritizes their release – among them is Chen Almog-Golstein, who knows the plight of hostages better than almost anyone. Chen witnessed her husband and her eldest daughter’s murders in their home by Hamas on October 7th. She and her three youngest children were then kidnapped and held for 51 hellish days in Gaza. She joined Christiane to speak about that experience and the moral duty to do everything possible to bring home those still being held in Gaza. 

Also on today's show: Suzanne Nossel, CEO, PEN America Center 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Gaza, the most vulnerable are paying the cost of Israel’s war to avenge the October 7th Hamas attack. Aid agencies say children are facing "extreme malnutrition" and dehydration. 15 have already died because of it, according to the ministry of health. Right now, parents are saying goodbye to their sons and daughters, as correspondent Nada Bashir reports. 

Also on today's show: Fania Oz-Salzberger, History Professor Emeritus, University of Haifa; Sophia Scott, Director, "Tomorrow's Freedom" & Arab Barghouthi, Son of Palestinian politician Marwan Barghouti; Mona Charen, Policy Editor, The Bulwark 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

After formally resigning as Palestinian Prime Minister last week, Mohammad Shtayyeh is staying on as caretaker until a permanent replacement is announced. He joins the show from Ramallah. 

Also on today's show: Dalia Hatuqa, Independent Journalist & Oren Persico, Staff Writer, The Seventh Eye; Marcela Valdes, Staff Writer, The New York Times Magazine 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Israel refuses to send a delegation to ceasefire talks in Cairo, where Egyptian, Qatari and US mediators are meeting. Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak has been a prominent critic of the Israeli government’s handling of this war and recently called for early general elections in Israel. He joins the show from Tel Aviv. 

Also on today's show: Daiana Al-Bukhari, Displaced Palestinian living in Rafah; Susan Glasser, Staff Writer, The New Yorker; Reiko Hillyer, Author, “A Wall is Just a Wall” 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The impact of the war in Gaza is ratcheting up on Israel, the US, and on the people of Gaza themselves. More than 30,000 are now dead - an unthinkable toll of Israel's offensive, since the October 7th Hamas attack. In an astonishing insight, UNRWA Chief Philippe Lazzarini tells Christiane the looming famine there is now so bad, that some people have been eating animal feed to survive. Now even that is running out. Then, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council Jan Egeland tells Christiane that he is “shaken” by the “horrific conditions” he's seeing firsthand in Gaza. “We're really, really overstretched in this ocean of needs,” he says. 

Meantime, Donald Trump reportedly has an old friend in town next week - Hungary's far-right leader Viktor Orban. They will have plenty to agree on, like their affinity with Vladimir Putin who Orban has courted publicly, and Trump has praised for his “strong control” of Russia. How will authoritarianism and Trump's admiration for these so-called strong men play with voters in November? Mary Trump, the ex-president's niece and clinical psychologist, gives Christiane her diagnosis on Trump’s “strongman syndrome.” 

Then, CNN's Will Ripley sees firsthand the deadly game of cat and mouse playing out with China off Taiwan's coast. 

Also this hour, President Biden turned the hysteria about his age on its head this week, by attacking the advancing years of his political adversary, Donald Trump - who is only four years his junior. Media critic, columnist and academic Margaret Sullivan says enough is enough with the herd mentality coverage of Biden’s age, because this election is about much more than “chasing clicks”. 

In the Amanpour Archive, the moment Christiane witnessed people dodging sniper fire for the chance to find whatever fresh food they could during the 1990's siege of Sarajevo, which ended 28 years ago this week.  

And finally, in the week that saw U.S. presidents both past and present at the Texas border - where the immigration crisis is a top election issue - a brand new HBO documentary delves into the often-dark history of the Lone Star State. "God Save Texas" is an adaptation of the book by the same name from Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist Lawrence Wright. He tells Christiane why Texas is so emblematic of the struggles at play in America ahead of the presidential election. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Thousands of Russians lined the streets to honor opposition leader Alexey Navalny two weeks after his death. Mikhail Fishman is a Russian journalist who knew Navalny well. He anchored a popular news program on opposition station “TV Rain,” until he had to flee Russia two years ago. Mikhail Fishman spoke to Bianna Golodryga about Navalny’s death, and about his hopes for freedom in Russia. 

Also on today's show: Pulitzer Prize-winning author Hisham Matar; Bao Nguyen, Director, “The Greatest Night in Pop” & Tom Bahler, Vocal Arranger, “We Are the World” 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

More than one hundred people have been killed while gathered around food aid trucks in Gaza city, according to the Ministry of Health there. Despite disputed timelines, Israeli forces say they did open fire. This comes in the context of a dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, where the UN says over half a million people are "one step away from famine." Mark Regev is special adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and he joins the show from Tel Aviv. 

Also on today's show: Kara Swisher, Author, “Burn Book”; Marie Arana, Author, “Latinoland”; Josh Paul, Former US State Department Official 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

One of the key groups responsible for providing humanitarian assistance in Gaza is the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), whose leader is sounding the alarm about what he calls a “man-made disaster.” But UNRWA itself has come under intense criticism recently, after the Israeli government alleged that 12 of its staff in Gaza were involved in the October 7th attacks on Israel. As a result, over a dozen countries suspended funding, including the United States, its largest donor. Philippe Lazzarini is the Commissioner-General of UNRWA and he joins the show from Jerusalem. 

Also on today’s show: Lawrence Wright, Author & Executive Producer, “God Save Texas”; Dr. Jonathan Metzl, Author, “What We’ve Become” 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices