Perspective

He's spent more than two decades documenting the realities of war, including years working alongside US soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. But photographer Peter van Agtmael's work goes beyond the battlefield. He's equally interested in how those wars echo back home, and that's the focus of his photo book "Look at the U.S.A.: A Diary of War and Home". By pairing images of conflict with jarring snapshots of everyday American life in the post-9/11 era, he draws a stark connection between distant conflicts and their lasting impact on life in the United States. He spoke to us in Perspective.

A Beirut-based filmmaker whose debut feature film has been described as an ode to the collective courage of the Lebanese people has spoken to FRANCE 24 about the film and her love for the city. Lana Daher has spent years working in Beirut and the last six years delving through thousands of hours of footage from Lebanon. That work comes together in her film "Do You Love Me". She spoke to us in Perspective.

One of the world's leading historians on the Palestinian people has told FRANCE 24 about how there is a future basis for peace in the region. Rashid Khalidi has spent years writing a series of books on the region and its conflicts, often through the eyes of his own family. He says that millions of people are not going to leave their land, so there's a basis for the two peoples to figure something out. Khalidi is in Paris for several appearances, including at the Arab World Institute. He spoke to us in Perspective.

"Far-right France" is the title of a panel discussion being held this Tuesday at the American Library in Paris. The panel will talk about the past, present and future of France's far-right movements, exactly one year head of crucial French presidential elections for which the far right is riding high in the polls. But can it actually go all the way and win? We put that question to one of the panelists, Victor Mallet, who is senior editor at the Financial Times and author of "Far-right France: Le Pen, Bardella and the Future of Europe".

A French makeup artist who has worked regularly at the White House, including at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner itself, has spoken to FRANCE 24 about her experience and the security surrounding the US president. Audrey Lefèvre has made up Presidents Bill Clinton and Joe Biden, as well as more recently Ivanka Trump and other members of the Trump family. She says the gunman at the dinner on Saturday only breached the first of many levels of security.

Lebanon's country director for the charity CARE has told FRANCE 24 that life for the Lebanese is a perpetual challenge that people have to overcome. Michael Adams says the ceasefire there is very fragile, and the constant infractions mean people don't have confidence in it. He told us about how many people have to live either in the streets, or in cars, parks or stadiums, and how so many of them are traumatised by the conflict. He spoke to us in Perspective.

A risk management analyst has spoken to FRANCE 24 about what it means, amid the ceasefire, if the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively closed. Paymon Azmoudeh is a senior consultant with the risk and compliance practice at Forward Global. He says he thinks the calculation on all sides is that going back to war is not in anyone's interest. He explained to us in Perspective what it means if the status quo continues with the ceasefire largely holding, but the economic impasse ongoing.

A former US Poet Laureate has told FRANCE 24 how we should stop making poems feel like puzzles, and instead embrace them as a way to help us in our perilous times. Tracy K. Smith is now a Harvard professor and the author of five poetry collections, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning "Life on Mars". Her book "Fear Less: Poetry in Perilous Times", is being discussed here in Paris this Tuesday. She spoke to us in Perspective.

Less than a week after a fragile ceasefire was announced in Lebanon, a senior Anglophone journalist in the country has spoken to FRANCE 24 about the devastation people are seeing as they start to return home. Thousands of homes have been destroyed in the conflict, and more than a million people displaced. Iva Kovic-Chahine, the head of L'Orient Today, also told us how people are closely following the peace process between Iran and the US, as Lebanon has become something of a card played by Tehran. She spoke to us in Perspective.

A woman who came to the world's attention at the age of just 16 has spoken to FRANCE 24 about how helping women has been an honour for her. Now 22, as a teenager Bohlale Mphahlele invented what she calls the Alerting Earpiece, designed to help protect women against sexual predators. She spoke to us in Perspective about how she continues to fight for women today.