It's been a week marked by major geopolitical and cultural developments across several fronts, from Beijing to Havana to Cannes. 

In the Chinese capital Beijing, Russian President Vladimir Putin made a rare visit to see Xi Jinping, with a carefully staged ceremony and renewed pledges of "unyielding relations", while Ukraine reported continued deep-strike drone operations inside Russian territory.

In Washington, the Trump administration indicted 94-year-old former Cuban president Raúl Castro over alleged murder and conspiracy to kill US nationals, linked to the 1990s downing of two civilian aircraft. It's a move officials describe as long-delayed justice, but which critics see as part of a wider push on regime change.

And there has been an uproar in the French film industry over Vincent Bolloré, a right-wing billionaire tycoon, the owner of Canal+, and with it, Studio Canal, Europe's largest film production company. On Sunday, at the Cannes Film Festival, Canal+ CEO Maxime Saada dropped a bombshell. He said the company would no longer work with more than 600 French cinema professionals who had signed a petition entitled "Switch off Bolloré", criticising the tycoon, warning about his growing control and calling for mobilisation against what they claimed was his attempt to lead a far-right "civilisational project" throughout French media. 

Produced by Gavin Lee, Alessandro Xenos, Antonia Cimini, Guillaume Gougeon and Laura Burloux