The former president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, is sentenced to five years in prison for criminal conspiracy. Judge Nathalie Gavarino said Sarkozy had allowed close aides to contact Libyan officials with a view to obtaining financial support for his election campaign. Mr Sarkozy insisted he was innocent and said he would appeal the ruling.

Also in the programme: three days after several world powers recognise Palestinian statehood, Palestine’s President Mahmoud Abbas addresses the United Nations General Assembly via video link, having been barred from entry to the US by President Trump; plus how Zimbabwe aims to become the world’s top supplier of blueberries.

(Photo: Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, leave the courthouse in Paris, France, 25 September 2025. Credit: Yoan Valat/EPA/Shutterstock)