Spotlight

FRANCE 24 English
  • 0.0 (0)
  • News
  • Updated Semiweekly

FRANCE 24's prime time interview of the day goes beyond the headlines: join us as news-making guests from around the globe go in depth on the stories that matter. Every day at 6:15pm Paris time.

  1. 46m ago

    On Sept 12th, 'everyone was compassionate': The world needs 'to be together again' - Richard Roeill

    François Picard is pleased to welcome Richard Roeill, former New York Firefighter and 9/11 First Responder. His testimony reframes the legacy of September 11th not as a historical event confined to a single day, but as living history. The former New York City firefighter describes an anniversary that reactivates trauma, while the illnesses suffered by first responders make the consequences of Ground Zero ever present decades later. Yet Roeill’s testimony is not simply a narrative of sacrifice. He says that responders were misled about the dangers they faced, demanding accountability and long-term healthcare for those exposed to the very toxic air. At the same time, Roeill resists ending with anger. His memory of September 12 - when, in his telling, distinctions of race, religion and gender temporarily receded before a sense of common humanity - becomes both an ideal and an implicit critique of the present. What he ultimately asks viewers to remember, therefore, is not only what was lost on September 11, but what solidarity looked like immediately afterward, and what we owe those still living with its consequences. His account moves between vulnerability and duty: declining lung capacity, the deaths of colleagues and the emotional burden of repeated funerals coexist with his striking insistence that, knowing what he knows now, he would still have responded exactly as he had done. "Absolutely. There's a lot of legacy firemen now, meaning that the ones that have passed from 9/11, that their kids are following in their footsteps, and it's a really wonderful thing. I got to witness about six months ago at Rescue 4. There were a few legacy children and firemen there, and it was great to see that they had great camaraderie, and they all stuck together because they had another bond that other people didn't. And it was really — it was beautiful to see, actually. It really was, knowing that they were there for each other and keeping their parents' legacies alive."

  2. 2d ago

    RN 'breach': Amid 'severe' differences with 'bright, young' Bardella, Le Pen 'dictates party line'

    François Picard is pleased to welcome Victor Mallet, Financial Times Senior Editor at the World News Desk. He interprets the emerging tensions between Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella as more than a clash of personalities. They reveal a deeper struggle over the political future of France's far-right National Rally is becoming as they find themselves in prime position in their hunt to capture the French presidency. Bardella is formally president of the party and has developed his own political constituency, particularly among younger voters and parts of the business community. Yet Mallet argues that Le Pen continues to exercise the decisive ideological and strategic authority. The controversy over Bardella’s migration agreement with Nigel Farage therefore matters less, in his reading, for the substance of the agreement than for the autonomy Bardella appeared to claim by making policy internationally sans Le Pen’s approval. As Mallet puts it, The party line falls very clearly on Marine Le Pen’s shoulders. The disagreement also exposes competing visions of the RN’s political future. On pensions and economic policy, Bardella appears more willing to acknowledge fiscal constraints and entertain reform, while Le Pen remains attached to the party’s socially protective economic platform. Strategically, Bardella seeks to broaden the RN into a coalition encompassing the center-right as well as the nationalist right; Le Pen, in Mallet’s account, remains more protective of the party’s established identity and policies. Their constituencies are complementary as well: Bardella brings youth, social-media appeal and business support, while Le Pen possesses experience, working-class identification and a more practiced popular touch. This is why Mallet ultimately sees reconciliation as the only rational outcome. Neither figure is necessarily strong enough to discard the other without cost. The Le Pen-Bardella partnership is therefore both an electoral asset and a source of instability. With the RN in a commanding position, Mallet crystallizes the stakes in one striking formulation: “It’s the RN’s election to lose.”

  3. 4d ago

    ‘Was this a state visit?’ Indian opposition leader raises serious questions over Paris BAPS temple

    FRANCE 24’s François Picard speaks with Anish Gawande, spokesperson for the Nationalist Congress Party. He sees the controversy surrounding the inauguration of the Bochasanwasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sanstha (BAPS) temple near Paris as more than an isolated dispute over the treatment of female staff at the Eiffel Tower. From his perspective, the incident exposes a broader and insufficiently scrutinized intersection of religion, diplomacy, political power, labor practices and diaspora politics.  Gawande questions why senior Indian diplomatic representation and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks evoking India-France relations accompanied the inauguration if the ceremony was not official. He highlights Modi’s longstanding political association with BAPS, while also highlighting controversies and allegations surrounding the organization’s social, labour and political practices abroad. Gawande challenges the notion that the new temple is solely representative of Hinduism in France, highlighting the country’s diverse Hindu traditions. He warns that the Eiffel Tower controversy may acquire a political life beyond BAPS itself, particularly if it becomes material for far-right narratives about immigrants, religion, and national identity in France. He argues that the controversy should prompt scrutiny of how the project was facilitated, how land was allocated, whether labour protections were respected and where the boundaries between religious organizations and state power are drawn.

  4. 4d ago

    Accelerating diversification: Canada seeks economic sovereignty amid Trump's 'nonsensical' posturing

    FRANCE 24’s François Picard speaks with Jean Simard, President and CEO of the Aluminum Association of Canada. According to Simard, the US-Canada aluminum dispute is not a conventional disagreement over trade, but rather a 'Trump posture that makes no sense". As American industrial demand substantially exceeds domestic production capacity, tariffs will do nothing to reduce Canadian aluminum from the US market. Protectionism does not eliminate interdependence, explains Simard, it makes that interdependence considerably more expensive. Simard interprets the conflict as an accelerator of structural change within Canada. External pressure from Washington is encouraging Canada to reduce internal trade barriers, diversify export relationships, protect strategically important industries and research capacity and deepen its relationship with Europe. Rather than forcing Canada to submit to US demands, sustained economic pressure may now be strengthening domestic support for full-on resistance and diversifying away from US dependence. The trade war is damaging and disruptive, but he sees it simultaneously as an opportunity to reconstruct Canada’s economic model and embrace new partnerships in other corners of the globe. Europe occupies a particularly important place in this transformation and has the potential to move “from being a bystander to being a full actor”. Simard highlights the dispute as part of a larger contest over whether US allies will respond individually to American economic coercion or develop greater collective strategic autonomy.

  5. 5d ago

    'Polarised Brazil': Lula remains a 'strong candidate' despite challenges of incumbency

    François Picard is pleased to welcome Andreza Aruska de Souza Santos, Director of King’s Brazil Institute at the School of Global Affairs, King’s College London and Associate Professor in Brazil and Latin American Studies. According to Aruska, Brazil’s approaching elections can be viewed through competing prisms: macroeconomic performance and political confidence are moving on different tracks. While headline indicators may suggest an economy performing relatively well, she argues that many Brazilians experience a much harsher reality, shaped by the cost of living and a volatile job market. That gap between statistical performance and lived experience could prove more politically consequential for Brazil than the actual numbers themselves. Over the past month alone, a Quaest poll shows the second round of the presidential race tightening into a statistical tie: President Lula has slightly dipped from 43 to 42 percent, while Flavio Bolsonaro has edged upward 40 to 41 percent. The current controversy surrounding the country's Supreme Court is at the heart of Brazil's deeper crisis of institutional mistrust. In a highly polarised political environment, disputes involving judges rapidly spill over into the great Lula-Bolsonaro divide, potentially reopening the anti-establishment terrain that helped Bolsonaro rise in the first place. The electorate's trust in national institutions could play a crucial role. Read moreSupreme Court corruption scandal rocks Brazil Aruska cautions against assuming that pressure from Washington will necessarily strengthen Brazil's Trump-aligned right. Foreign intervention can activate powerful narratives of sovereignty and nationalism and may therefore produce precisely the opposite political effect. Ultimately, her argument suggests that Brazil's election may not necessarily be decided by the strength of the economy, but by how people perceive it in their daily life experiences. Effective campaign messaging via both social and traditional media could also prove decisive in this razor-thin contest.

  6. 6d ago

    'Ready to talk': German far right celebrates victory in Saxony-Anhalt

    "Everything is possible" was the campaign slogan of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) in Saxony-Anhalt, where the far-right party has won a landslide election victory, although they appear short of a majority in the state parliament. Ulrich Siegmund, who is in pole position to become the state leader, knows he has history in his grasp. We get reaction from CSU MP Tobias Winkler. The headlines this week have focused on the prospect of Germany having its first far-right state since World War II. It's the fear of the ghosts of the past and what could come that has seen other parties put up a firewall, or "Brandmauer" in German: a sanitary cordon around the far right; an agreement to stay clear. German intelligence agencies have designated elements of the party as right-wing extremist. But this is a different party from the AfD of the past. The vitriolic slogans of "Enough is Enough" have been replaced by a positive mantra. Its leader has been labelled Germany's "Most Dangerous Man" by Der Spiegel magazine, for being a "quote-friendly, approachable but dangerous seducer" whose persona masks a far more radical programme. Siegmund says it's a typical establishment set-up, fake PR. He's even been signing copies of the cover.

  7. Sep 5

    Witkoff: Putin's messenger?

    What did Steve Witkoff know about Russia when he was first sent to see President Vladimir Putin in February of last year? "Nothing," said US President Donald Trump. "People just love Steve" was the reason he got the nod. "I know how to negotiate," Witkoff himself explained. He's also said: "The professionals haven't solved it." This Saturday is the eighth time Witkoff has been in the Kremlin meeting Putin, again trying to find a path out of the Ukraine war. He'll be alongside Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law. Tomorrow, the pair are due to go to Kyiv, notably, for the first time. The initial connection between Witkoff and Putin, according to the Wall Street Journal, was a calculated diplomatic reach-out – not by Trump but by Putin himself, who had been studying the "psychological profiles of the officials around Trump". The one rule of engagement Witkoff was given was to come alone, without any CIA handlers, diplomats or even an interpreter, according to the Wall Street Journal. For more, we speak to James J. Townsend Jr, senior advisor at the Scowcroft Center's Transatlantic Security Initiative at the Atlantic Council.

  8. Sep 4

    'Major potential breaches of British election law': Inside Channel 4’s investigation into Reform UK

    Gavin Lee is pleased to welcome Peter Geoghegan, an award-winning investigative journalist. He's the editor of the Substack Democracy for Sale and the author of the best-selling book "Democracy for Sale". Geoghegan explains the significance of the Channel 4 investigation into Reform UK, not simply over the conduct allegedly captured on camera, but in the broader question of how political influence is financed and made visible, or invisible, within British democracy. Geoghegan's central argument is that the polling controversy may be more consequential than the hypothetical discussion of routing a foreign donation, precisely because the polling actually occurred and entered the public sphere. Polls, in his account, are not neutral measurements of opinion: they can help construct political momentum, determine news agendas and shape perceptions of electoral viability. If polling designed for a political party's benefit is financed by another party without transparent attribution, voters may encounter what appears to be independent political information without being able to see the financial and partisan relationships behind it.   Read moreTwo senior Reform UK officials resign as Farage faces fresh foreign donations scandal Geoghegan also rejects the claim that undercover journalism is inherently illegitimate. Instead, he applies a public-interest test: subterfuge can be justified when it reveals consequential behaviour that powerful actors would be unlikely to disclose openly. Most strikingly, he argues that the investigation matters because the alleged mechanisms were not merely proposed to Reform UK officials by reporters; according to his reading of the footage, officials themselves explained how they might work. That distinction shifts the analytical question from whether journalists manufactured a scandal to what the investigation reveals about political practices normally hidden from public view.

See All (17)

About

FRANCE 24's prime time interview of the day goes beyond the headlines: join us as news-making guests from around the globe go in depth on the stories that matter. Every day at 6:15pm Paris time.

Information

  • Creator
    FRANCE 24 English
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    17
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © France Médias Monde
  • Show Website
    Spotlight