Perspective

It's been described as a searing account of the refugee exodus sparked by the Arab Spring and ensuing Syrian civil war. "The Strangers' Case" is a new film that follows a series of characters, most notably a Syrian doctor and her young daughter who decide to flee their homeland. The characters come together to illustrate the devastating consequences of war. The film premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year and stars French superstar actor Omar Sy, among others. Brandt Andersen, an activist, writer and the film's director, joined us on Perspective to tell us more about it.

The UN's Environment Programme (UNEP) is warning that crunch time for the planet is now a reality, and that any time left for climate delays has already run out. It warns that extreme heatwaves, storms, droughts and floods are already ravaging communities, this with global temperatures rising less than 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels to date. The UNEP says that what is now needed is political courage to end the world's fossil fuel addiction. In Perspective, we spoke to the director of the UN Environment Programme's Copenhagen Climate Centre, John Christensen.

One of the lawyers defending the international environmentalist and anti-whaling activist Paul Watson has spoken of his outrage at his client’s further detention.  A Greenland court has granted a fourth extension of Watson's time in jail for another three weeks, pending a decision on his possible extradition from Greenland to Japan. Watson is accused of injuring a whaler and causing damage to a whaling ship in the Antarctic in 2010.  He and his team claim the charges are politically motivated. William Julié spoke to us in Perspective on the day that Watson, who had been living in France until his July 21 arrest, requested French nationality.

The lives of women living in Afghanistan under the strict regime of the Taliban have been captured in a new photography exhibition. The project, entitled "No Woman’s Land" – an intimate look at the battle for women’s rights in Afghanistan – saw its co-authors travelling the country to document and capture the lives of women. This comes as Human Rights Watch warns that the situation in the country continues to deteriorate, with women risking stiff penalties – including lashings – if they break the rules. We spoke to co-authors Kiana Hayeri and Mélissa Cornet about their project, which has been awarded the prestigious Carmignac Photojournalism Award by the Carmignac Foundation.

Huge numbers of Russians who have fled the country amid the full-scale invasion of Ukraine are turning to a website set up to try to help them. The Ark is a project founded two and a half years ago by Anastasia Burakova, a Russian woman who left her homeland shortly before the invasion as her organisation faced intense intimidation from the authorities. It now assists people with accommodation, as well as legal and psychological help. Anastasia Burakova spoke to us in Perspective.

What do African forest elephants, leatherback turtles in Guyana and river trout in mainland France have in common? The answer is that all three have been highlighted in the latest Living Planet report from the World Wide Fund for Nature. They are linked in a far from positive way, as the report says they are part of a long list of endangered species of wild vertebrate populations that have declined by 73 percent since 1970 alone. That report as global environmental leaders gather in Colombia for COP16, the UN's biodiversity conference. In Perspective, we spoke to Chief Executive Officer for WWF France Véronique Andrieux.

Filmed from the point of view of a young foreigner in the Gaza Strip in 2018, "Journey into Gaza" shows intimate moments between friends, bustling street scenes and people gathering for the "Great March of Return" border protests. The film, which will be released next month, was completed before last year's October 7 attacks, but is still undeniably political — denouncing the lack of freedom for Gaza residents under the control of both Hamas and Israel. However, as filmmaker Piero Usberti tells FRANCE 24's Perspective programme, the goal was first and foremost to share with viewers the "beauty and poetry" that he found in Gaza before the war.

Greenpeace is sounding the alarm over what it calls an environmental and public health disaster in Ghana, pointing the finger at fast fashion. The clothing is imported and meant to be sold in Accra's largest second-hand market, but it's of such bad quality that stall owners are unable to sell it and have to throw it away. In Perspective, we spoke to Sam Quashie-Idun, head of investigations at Greenpeace Africa.

From farmers-turned-pirates in Bangladesh to jihadists in Iraq using drought as a recruiting tool, a new book by environmental journalist Peter Schwartzstein explores the link between climate and conflict. "The Heat and the Fury: On the Frontlines of Climate Violence" tells the stories of those affected by climate-conflict crises around the globe. While Schwartzstein tells FRANCE 24 that climate violence is "mostly playing out in poorer parts of the world", he says it is also starting to affect wealthier regions, in parts of North America and Europe. A key takeaway from the book, he says, is that we are "systematically underestimating the amount of violence that is connected to climate change because we are not really looking at how climate change is acting on other drivers of instability like corruption, like inequality, like misinformation".

This year alone more than 360 thousand people will be diagnosed with breast cancer ... while many will die of it without being diagnosed at all. And yet if it is detected early, the 5-year relative survival rate of breast cancer stands at an incredible 99 percent. This month is Breast Cancer Awareness month and we talk to oncologist Dr. Ines Vaz Luis to discuss the progress in fighting the disease and what more can be done.