• Is more scrutiny needed of AI analytics giant Palantir?
    Feb 22 2026

    There are growing calls across Europe for tighter scrutiny of the American AI firm Palantir Technologies, amid concerns over privacy and its expanding role in military and government operations across the US and its allies. The company, led by CEO Alex Karp, provides battlefield analytics to the US, NATO and Ukraine, while also holding civilian contracts in several European countries. FRANCE 24's Gavin Lee is joined by defence and security strategist Eva Sula in Tallinn for analysis.

    Produced by Maya Yataghene, Alessandro Xenos and Guillaume Gougeon

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    10 mins
  • Killing of far-right activist sparks tensions across France
    Feb 22 2026

    FRANCE 24's Gavin Lee is joined by Antoine Marie, a researcher in political psychology at the Centre for Political Research at Sciences Po in Paris. He's been analysing the situation in Lyon and the protests linked to the killing of far-right activist Quentin Deranque, as well as the broader patterns of political polarisation and their potential links to the escalation of political violence. He unpacks what could become a defining issue ahead of France's local council elections.

    Produced by Maya Yataghene, Alessandro Xenos and Guillaume Gougeon

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    13 mins
  • A royal crisis: Unpacking the arrest that rocked the British monarchy
    Feb 20 2026

    The arrest of the king's brother in the past 24 hours is one of those shocking moments that won’t easily be forgotten, especially in the age of the meme. The last time a British royal was arrested was in 1647, when it was Charles I. Andrew Mountbatten Windsor's arrest on his 66th birthday has made headlines worldwide, with an image of him wide-eyed and lying low in the back of a car capturing the moment.

    He's facing investigations over allegations that he passed confidential government information to Jeffrey Epstein while serving as UK trade envoy. This investigation is separate from the sexual abuse allegations involving Virginia Giuffre, though there are eight ongoing police inquiries into his actions.

    While Andrew has denied any wrongdoing, he has yet to comment since his arrest.

    FRANCE 24's Gavin Lee is joined by Richard Fitzwilliams, a longtime British royal commentator, to discuss the fallout.

    Produced by Rhea Smircic, Alessandro Xenos and Guillaume Gougeon

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    14 mins
  • 'This is not a political game': France faces reckoning after killing of 23-year-old activist
    Feb 16 2026

    The fatal beating of a 23-year-old man in Lyon has shocked France and ignited a fierce political row. The victim, Quentin Deranque, died in hospital after being attacked on February 12 near an event at Sciences Po Lyon attended by a left-wing politician. Prosecutors say he was assaulted during confrontations between rival activists and later succumbed to a traumatic brain injury, prompting a murder inquiry by French police.

    The killing has intensified tensions between France's far right and far left in the run-up to key elections, with national figures calling for calm even as accusations fly about responsibility for the violence.

    FRANCE 24's Mark Owen is joined by economist Renaud Foucart of Lancaster University to analyse the political and social fallout from this deeply troubling incident.

    Produced by Charles Wente, Aline Bottin, Guillaume Gougeon and Ilayda Habip

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    11 mins
  • Sophie Adenot begins historic ISS mission: The view from fellow French astronaut Michel Tognini
    Feb 15 2026

    Right now, 400 kilometres above the Earth's surface, orbiting at 17,500 miles per hour, or five miles per second, the new crew of the International Space Station are settling in. Among them is Sophie Adenot, the second female French astronaut. French former astronaut Michel Tognini shares his thoughts on this historic mission.

    The team of four that make up Expedition 74 set off on Friday morning from Cape Canaveral. They are Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway from the US; Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev; and Sophie Adenot, the second female astronaut from France after Claudie Haigneré three decades ago.

    The ISS is considered the most expensive human-made engineering project in history, a total cost over its lifetime estimated at around $150 to 160 billion. Since 2000, for 25 years, it has been continuously occupied by humans living and working in a set of capsules in a football field-sized space, pushing the boundaries of science in space.

    Sophie Adenot, a former helicopter pilot from Burgundy, says she's dreamed of this moment since she was tiny, despite the slim odds of doing it. She also says her family encouraged her from the start.

    We hear from French former astronaut Michel Tognini.

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    21 mins
  • 'Europe managed to support Ukraine'
    Feb 13 2026

    Gavin Lee is pleased to welcome, live from Munich, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Former Ukrainian Prime Minister, who served in the critical time in the recent history of Ukraine, 2014 to 2016.

    There have been reports this week in the Financial Times suggesting that President Zelensky is planning to announce elections and a referendum, and that the announcement would likely come around the time of the fourth anniversary of the conflict in the next two weeks.

    He's denied that, and this weekend at the Munich Security Conference is seen as another key moment to get a steer of the US position, and how the Trump administration is attempting manoeuvre in mediating an end to the conflict by the summer.

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    15 mins
  • 'If the Cuban government were to collapse, that would be a security threat to the United States'
    Feb 11 2026

    François Picard is pleased to welcome, live from Havana, Emily Morris, Honorary Senior Research Associate at University College London's Institute of the Americas. The US fuel embargo on Cuba has shifted from an abstract policy dispute into something felt in the grain of everyday life. This is not simply a "shortage", but a sequence of events: curtailed events, warnings of deeper power cuts and above all, a transport squeeze that limits mobility, work and institutional routines like universities moving remotely.

    The most corrosive feature is uncertainty; the sense that people can adapt to hardship, but not to not knowing what comes next. The most likely scenario is a standoff: frustration in the US, hardship in Cuba, and rising international and domestic disquiet.

    And if the goal is to trigger a rupture between citizens and the state, the mechanism may run the other way, because when hardship is visibly linked to external pressure, reliance on the government for basic provisioning often increases.

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    8 mins
  • Epstein files: US Justice Dept has been 'destroyed from within', former prosecutor says
    Feb 9 2026

    François Picard is pleased to welcome legal analyst and former US federal prosecutor Eric Lisann to offer in-depth analysis of the Epstein files in the US and across the globe. Mr. Lisann offers a damning account of the state of American democracy in the wake of the Epstein fallout worldwide: the US Department of Justice "was a primary pillar or institution in safeguarding democracy and the rule of law in the United States," he explains. "But it has been totally destroyed from within right now, and the consequences to society are severe."

    Watch moreEpstein files special: Revelations, redactions & ramifications

    Mr. Lisann has prosecuted cases, worked deep inside the system, and what he's laying witness to now is not just mere dysfunction, it’s what he describes as the dismantling of US institutions in a very deliberate manner.

    For him, the handling of the Epstein files represents political theatre, not legal prudence: from the selective pardoning speculation, to the careless and wildly unpredictable redactions that hide the powerful and expose the victims. What remains is a justice system under siege, a disillusioned public and a power structure increasingly immune to scrutiny.

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    11 mins