Perspective

Paris is a city of huge positives but also negatives. That's the view of the author of a new book on what he calls an "Impossible City". Simon Kuper, a journalist for The Financial Times, describes in the book how the French capital is not at all simply the picture-postcard city we tend to think of. While 2 million people live in central Paris, another 10 million live in the banlieues, or suburbs. Kuper says he's hopeful that plans to open 68 new metro stations will connect the two parts of the metropolis better. He spoke to us in Perspective. 

The head of one of the world's major environmental groups has told FRANCE 24 that a third major crisis is affecting the world and we need to pay more attention to it. As well as Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the crisis in Gaza, she says we need to urgently address climate change. Pam Pearson, the founder and director of the International Cryosphere Climate Initiative, says that just a 2°C degree rise in temperatures would mean that all of the Earth's frozen regions would experience "irreversible" damage, with disastrous consequences for millions of people and for nature. Her organisation says that already a 3-metre rise in sea levels can no longer be stopped, but that if we act now it can be slowed so it takes up to a thousand years to happen. Pearson, a former US diplomat with 20 years of experience working on global issues, spoke to us in Perspective.

The co-director of an Israeli charity that sends food into Gaza to help Palestinians has told FRANCE 24 that he and his fellow workers cannot witness people starving and facing famine as if they themselves have nothing to do with it. This as far-right Israeli settlers are trying to block the aid from getting through. Alon-Lee Green is the co-director of the charity Standing Together, which takes humanitarian supplies into Gaza. For many he is a hero, for others a traitor. He spoke to us in Perspective.

A British photographer who has lived in Ukraine since 2020 has spoken to FRANCE 24 about his mission to help the Ukrainian people since Russia's full-scale invasion. Mark Neville has set up a charity called Postcode Ukraine that makes deliveries of humanitarian aid to frontline towns. Once there, he takes photographs of the people he meets. Those pictures have now been put together in a new book, "Ukraine 2022-2024: Diary of an Aid Worker". He spoke to us in Perspective about some of the pictures, notably one of a good friend who was killed on the frontline just a day previously.

A woman who spent several years in a British prison and now spends time trying to help other prisoners has told FRANCE 24 that picking up the pen whilst she was behind bars saved her life. Lady Unchained now spends her time running workshops inside prisons to encourage others to take up writing or poetry to channel their emotions. She now also presents a radio programme on the British prisons' radio station, which encourages its listeners to call in their raps and has been nominated for several awards. Lady Unchained spoke to us in Perspective.

Shock and gamble are the two words most frequently being used in newsrooms across France and Europe after French President Emmanuel Macron announced snap parliamentary elections. The first round will be held in less than three weeks' time, leaving political parties struggling to work out how to tackle such a short campaign. Macron made his announcement after the far-right National Rally scored over 30 percent of the vote in the European elections in France – twice as much as any other party there. In Perspective, we spoke to Andrew Smith, a French modern history expert and lecturer in liberal arts at Queen Mary University of London.

Commemorating D-Day is crucial to remind us of the horror of war. That's the view of an historian who has spoken to FRANCE 24 about the fears that we are in a pre-war period with the threat of a third world war, and that this week's commemorations should be a wake-up call to the world. Curtis Young has spent years researching the African-American soldiers killed in World War I here in France, but his interest and enthusiasm to uncover the truth extend into the Second World War as well. He spoke to us in Perspective.

Has the general election in India been free and fair? This crucial point is debated and discussed across the country and abroad as the results of the vote come in. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi's BJP party will still be the largest in parliament, it has done less well than expected. Has India's election commission done its job properly? In Perspective, we spoke to Mukulika Banerjee, a professor of anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

FRANCE 24 speaks to Sven Biscop, director of the Europe in the World Programme at the Egmont Institute, and the author of "This is Not a New World Order", about the upcoming European elections. We delve into how issues like the war in Ukraine, competition with China and the green transition are shaping the vote. Concerning the rise of the far right in Europe, he says their policies are "counterintuitive", noting that they are both "extremely nationalistic" yet "allow themselves to be instrumentalised as agents of hostile powers such as Russia". 

Céline Bardet, a lawyer and international criminal investigator specialising in war crimes, speaks to FRANCE 24 about the legal implications after Ireland, Spain and Norway began formally recognising Palestine as a state Tuesday. “It changes everything for the position of Palestine, it would put the state of Palestine equal to other[s],” she said. Bardet, however, also said that while international legal bodies are doing everything they can to end the war in Gaza, “justice is not here to stop war”.