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Former Tory MP and military officer on Keir Starmer's 'rope-a-dope' week

12 June 2026 at 19:45
The British prime minister is once again fighting for his political survival, on the back foot after his defence secretary and defence minister quit the government over complaints of a lack of military spending and sufficient commitment to keep Britain safe from the spectre of Russian attack.

Belfast unrest: 'Racists and groups allied to the far right are now unified across Europe'

12 June 2026 at 07:53
François Picard is pleased to welcome Professor Peter Shirlow, Director of the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool. Northern Ireland is once again confronting scenes of unrest, violence and anti-migrant attacks. Shirlow frames the violence within a wider European and global context. He argues that today's far-right mobilisations are no longer isolated local phenomena but are increasingly interconnected through digital networks, transnational misinformation campaigns and social media platforms that facilitate the rapid circulation of extremist narratives.

'What makes the Sagrada Família so universal is precisely it being so local, so Catalan'

12 June 2026 at 07:53
François Picard is pleased to welcome Antoni Vives, former deputy mayor of Barcelona in charge of urban planning. According to Vives, the Sagrada Família is not simply an architectural masterpiece. It is a living demonstration of how authenticity, rootedness and transcendence can converge in a single human project. Its significance lies not only in its extraordinary design, but in its ability to connect the local with the universal, the contemporary with the eternal, and nature with all that's sacred.

Belfast unrest: 'Racists and groups allied to the far right are now unified across Europe'

12 June 2026 at 07:53
François Picard is pleased to welcome Professor Peter Shirlow, Director of the Institute of Irish Studies at the University of Liverpool. Northern Ireland is once again confronting scenes of unrest, violence, and anti-migrant attacks. Shirlow frames the violence within a wider European and global context. He argues that today's far-right mobilisations are no longer isolated local phenomena but are increasingly interconnected through digital networks, transnational misinformation campaigns, and social media platforms that facilitate the rapid circulation of extremist narratives.

'Acknowledging rights and needs of Israelis and Palestinians: Shared path towards a secure future'

12 June 2026 at 06:25
François Picard is pleased to welcome Avi Meyerstein, co-founder and president of the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP). At a moment when international attention is increasingly consumed by conflict across the Middle East, Meyer argues that the crises currently unfolding are not isolated events but manifestations of unresolved political conflicts that have been left to fester for decades. "While those things remain unresolved," he observes, any semblance of stability "is just an illusion."

End of FCAS 'flagship project' marks setback for Franco-German cooperation and European defence

10 June 2026 at 07:43
François Picard is pleased to welcome Ulrike Franke, Senior Policy Fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. According to Franke, the project's demise was "not a surprise to anybody." While acknowledging that Dassault was often perceived as "quite difficult to deal with," she argues that the deeper problem lay in a structural design flaw that brought together industrial rivals who "never really had the incentive to properly work together."

End of FCAS 'flagship project' marks setback for Franco-German cooperation and European defence

10 June 2026 at 07:43
François Picard is pleased to welcome Ulrike Franke, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. According to Franke, the demise of the Franco-German FCAS fighter jet project was "not a surprise to anybody". While acknowledging that Dassault was often perceived as "quite difficult to deal with," she argues that the deeper problem lay in a structural design flaw that brought together industrial rivals who "never really had the incentive to properly work together".

'Entire system is broken': Lyhanna's death reveals 'systemic failures' in France's judicial system

9 June 2026 at 07:26
François Picard is pleased to welcome Solène Podevin-Favre, president of the "Face à l'inceste" advocacy and support group and former co-director of the Ciivise, an independent commission set up in 2021 to come up with proposals to fight sexual abuse of children in France. According to Podevin-Favre, the murder of 11-year-old Lyhanna is not an isolated tragedy. It is a "systemic failure" that has been repeatedly identified, documented and reported for years.

Why Ivanka's Albanian dream is a protester's nightmare

5 June 2026 at 19:32
Controversy is growing over plans by US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner to build a luxury resort in a nature reserve in Albania. For more, we speak to Erisa Kryeziu, an Albanian journalist for the independent media outlet Citizens.al. She's reported on the protests against the construction activity.

Oddone hails EU-Mercosur accord's 'civilisational approach' beyond commercial and economic interests

3 June 2026 at 22:03
François Picard is pleased to welcome Gabriel Oddone, economist, professor and Uruguay's Minister of Economy and Finance. He offers a striking defence of the social democratic model at a moment when much of Latin America appears to be embracing hard-right socio-political and economic policies.

Romania hit by drone strike: Foreign minister speaks to FRANCE 24

29 May 2026 at 20:27
It was 2am when the explosion hit: a Russian drone smashing into the tenth floor of an apartment block in the Romanian town of Galati, just 11 kilometres from the Ukrainian border. Romania scrambled two F-16 fighter jets and a military helicopter, while emergency alerts were sent to residents across the affected region. Two people were injured and the apartment building was swiftly evacuated. The incident has sparked condemnation across NATO capitals and raised fresh concerns about the growing risks along the alliance's eastern flank.

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