Bottom of the Pyramid Scheme

France's prominent Le Petit Robert dictionary, considered a linguistic authority in the country, recently added a new pronoun to its online edition. The word is "iel", a gender-neutral merging of the masculine "il" (he) and the feminine "elle" (she). This new pronoun, intended for those who identify as neither male nor female, is already used online and by younger generations. But the move to include it in the dictionary provoked a backlash from politicians and linguists. One vocal critic of the new pronoun is French Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer. He says it's the latest expression of "wokism" which, he claims, threatens France's universalist model. We take a closer look.

In this edition of Perspective, engineering student Ana Graham and professor Denis Bruneau join us to talk about their BaityKool project. The prototype of a sustainable, eco-friendly building adapted to hot temperatures won third prize in the Solar Decathlon Middle East competition in 2018. The innovative building offers a peek into what the future of sustainable housing could look like.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed when a gun in Baldwin's hand discharged on the set of a Western movie near Santa Fe. No criminal charges have been filed.

Shooting to fame at the height of the Roaring Twenties in Paris, Josephine Baker was a Missouri-born dancer who found her spiritual home in France, far from the racial segregation of her native USA. Yet the early years of her career can make for uncomfortable viewing for a contemporary audience, with Baker seemingly complicit in numerous racist stereotypes. But for Ilana Navaro, director of the film "Josephine Baker: The Story of an Awakening", Baker "took what she had and, later on, turned it into a political tool" – as part of the French Resistance during World War II, and even later as a leading voice in the US civil rights movement.

The OECD says recovery is being held back by supply bottlenecks and labor shortages. Calling for swifter vaccinations, it warns growth could be further derailed by new variant omicron.

French far-right pundit Eric Zemmour has officially launched his bid for president with a 10-minute video clip on YouTube that looks like a crash course on replacement theory – immigrants supposedly taking over, violently – all to the dramatic sound of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony. We ask our panel about the unorthodox campaign launch.