The European Court of Human Rights recently ruled against the Italian state for failing to act and putting the lives of locals in danger. The case, brought by residents and NGOs from a region near Naples known as the "Land of Fires", came after they noticed an unusually high number of cancer diagnoses and high levels of pollution in the groundwater. The cause of the pollution was toxic waste dumped by the Camorra, the Neapolitan mafia. Our correspondents report.

Brazil, which is hosting the COP30 summit in the Amazon in November, is facing a worrying rise in sea levels due to global warming. Sea levels in the village of Atafona, in the north of Rio de Janeiro state, could rise some 21cm by 2050, according to UN forecasts. The village is experiencing one of the world's most serious environmental disasters due to coastal erosion. Every year, the sea advances by an average of six metres. Across the country, over 2 million people could be affected in the long term by rising sea levels. In Santos, in the state of Sao Paulo, the mayor's office is trying to anticipate matters in order to avoid an economic and human catastrophe. FRANCE 24's Louise Raulais and Jan Onoszko report.

Located on the border with Russia, the Estonian city of Narva could be Russian President Vladimir Putin's ideal spot if he were to plan an invasion. Only a bridge separates the two countries. The population is divided: while some members of the town's Russian-speaking community are nostalgic for their Soviet-era past, others fear Moscow's war ambitions. In view of a potential attack, Estonian civilians are undergoing military training and preparing for all possible outcomes. Our France 2 colleagues report, with FRANCE 24's Lauren Bain.

Ravaged by 30 years of civil war, Cambodia is littered with anti-personnel mines. Every year, they kill and injure civilians, despite the government destroying 4 million landmines since the 1990s. Today, more than 5,000 people around the country are working to neutralise the millions of mines left buried in the ground, while a Belgian NGO has pioneered the use of rats to sniff them out. In November 2024, Cambodia hosted the Fifth Review Conference of the Ottawa Convention, a treaty ratified by 164 countries that aims to ban the use of these deadly weapons worldwide. FRANCE 24's William de Tamaris, Aruna Popuri and Justin McCurry report.

On March 13, Syria's Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa approved a temporary constitutional declaration, setting the stage for a new regime. The declaration specifies that only the state can have an army. This has raised concerns for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), the Kurdish-led military faction in northeastern Syria. Under an agreement signed with Damascus, the SDF will eventually be integrated into the national army. But how can Syria's most powerful armed force join a unified army when some of their potential allies are also their enemies? The path to a unified Syrian army remains uncertain.

With the ever-growing and often overwhelming number of news outlets, it has become increasingly difficult to identify reliable sources. Artificial intelligence is likely to make matters worse, as more and more articles are now computer-generated and spread false information. These fake websites often have just one person at the helm, using artificial intelligence in the hope of earning money from advertising. Our France 2 colleagues report, with FRANCE 24's Jennifer Ben Brahim.

In 2024, Brazil recorded an almost 70 percent year-on-year increase in cases of discrimination and attacks on religious practices, according to the ministry of human rights. The main victims are religions of African origin, such as Umbanda and Candomblé. Their followers are threatened and their religious temples destroyed and ransacked. This intolerance is fuelled by branches of evangelical Christianity: Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal churches, whose numbers have soared in Brazil in recent years. FRANCE 24's Louise Raulais and Jan Onoszko report.

Private forests in France have become a target for large-scale timber theft, which results in a huge financial loss for property owners and an environmental disaster. But when nearly 300 beautiful oak trees were illegally cut down in the Yvelines department in 2022, local residents took it upon themselves to track down the culprits. Our France 2 colleagues report, with FRANCE 24's Lauren Bain.

Semiconductors can be found in all our electronic devices: mobile phones, computers and surveillance cameras. Still a minor player in this highly strategic sector, Vietnam is rapidly developing its industry. The government is investing in universities to train more engineers specialised in semiconductors, in the hope of eventually competing with China and Taiwan. FRANCE 24's Adam Hancock, William de Tamaris and Mélodie Sforza report.

Peru is home to more than 2,000 glaciers. But like elsewhere in the world, they are melting faster and faster due to climate change. The country’s glaciers have lost more than half of their surface area over the past 50 years and this change in the landscape is having catastrophic consequences for many residents of the Andes. The water they drink every day is being contaminated with heavy metals. FRANCE 24's Agathe Fourcade, Martin Chabal report, with Wassim Cornet.