Reporters

Like many European countries, Belgium has been witnessing a crisis in its asylum system for several months. With its welcome centres and public services stretched to breaking point, NGOs are now sounding the alarm. They say more resources are needed to help process the many unaccompanied minors arriving in Belgium, with three quarters coming from Afghanistan. Belgian law requires each unaccompanied minor to have a legal guardian before starting the asylum process – but there simply aren’t enough of them. FRANCE 24's Alix Le Bourdon followed the demanding daily life of two of these guardians who hold parental authority over the young foreigners entrusted to them.

In Turkish-controlled Northern Cyprus, education has become the leading economic sector. No less than 23 universities are concentrated in the small self-declared state recognised only by Turkey, which has occupied it since 1974. They attract students from developing countries by offering affordable courses with a "European" stamp of approval. But some of these students are soon disappointed. After falling victim to false promises made by their recruiters, they can end up in desperate situations. FRANCE 24's Corentin Bainier, Erika Olavarria and Derek Thomson report.

Due to excessive groundwater extraction, the Indonesian capital Jakarta and its 11 million inhabitants are sinking below sea level at a worrying pace. This phenomenon has prompted the Indonesian government to take a radical decision: to move the capital more than 1,500 kilometres away and create a new city from scratch on the island of Borneo, in one of the world's largest stretches of tropical rainforest. Lucie Berbey and Ulysse Cailloux report from Jakarta and Borneo on the rationale and challenges of this unprecedented decision.

On the Italian coast, in the central region of Tuscany, the seaside resort of Rosignano looks like a picture-postcard paradise with turquoise sea and shimmering white sand. But this landscape is a result of its close proximity to a large factory producing soda ash. For over a century, the Belgian chemical company Solvay has managed the site, with the authorisation to discharge up to 250,000 tons of waste – pumped directly onto the beach. Although legal and monitored, this activity still has considerable environmental and health implications. Life in Rosignano revolves around a battle between the chemical giant and a number of local residents. Our reporters went to meet them.

Africans make up just 5 percent of immigrants in the United States but represent the fastest-growing immigrant group. For many of them, America is the land of opportunity. But the reality is sometimes more difficult, as Africans are confronted with various challenges. These include a form of racism against them – somewhat ironically, from the African American community. FRANCE 24's correspondent Fanny Allard went to Washington, as well as the states of Maryland and Virginia, to meet some of these men and women who have made a new life for themselves in the United States.

Rafael Moreno was a Colombian journalist who regularly exposed corruption and crime in his northern home region of Cordoba. On his Facebook page, Moreno tirelessly denounced embezzlement in public contracts and illegal resource extraction. But he paid the ultimate price for his reporting. Our Bogota correspondent Pascale Mariani travelled to the Cordoba region to pay tribute to him.

In August 2021, when the US hurriedly pulled out of Afghanistan, it organised an airlift to evacuate those who had worked with NATO forces and found themselves threatened by the Taliban. These evacuations became chaotic and not everyone made it out. Meanwhile, Washington insisted on security checks for the Afghans and asked third countries to take some of them in while their visa requests were processed. Albania is one of 27 countries that are now home to Afghan refugees. FRANCE 24's Nadia Bletry and Thierry Trelluyer went to meet some of them and found that in many cases, their lives are still in limbo a year and a half later.

Professor Francine Ntoumi, 62, is a world-renowned scientist and malaria specialist. She is spending a year travelling through her country, the Republic of Congo, to spread the word that education and science can make it a better place and create opportunities for the younger generation, particularly women and girls. Reaching out to the local population, raising awareness and allowing more young women to access science is Professor Ntoumi's driving ambition. Kate Thompson-Gorry and Michel Welterlin went to meet her.

The security situation in Haiti has spiralled out of control since the shock assassination of President Jovenel Moise in July 2021, with the country increasingly beset by violence. Today, unrest has reached such levels that the United Nations is being urged to intervene and there has been a total breakdown of governance. The country is increasingly at the mercy of criminal gangs and half of the population struggles to find food. FRANCE 24's team travelled to Port-au-Prince, the Haitian capital, before gangs took full control of the city. They met a writer, a street vendor and a food importer, as well as residents trying to flee abroad.

In the world's highest mountain range, global warming threatens thousands of glaciers, resulting in increasingly frequent natural disasters: landslides, avalanches and glacier collapses. Our reporters Alban Alvarez and Navodita Kumari travelled to the small northern Indian state of Uttarakhand, where these disasters are compounded by a rush to develop infrastructure such as hydroelectric dams.