Brazil: Over 250,000 COVID-19 deaths in one year

Brazil has more than three million "ghost citizens": people who don't have a birth certificate or ID card. In administrative terms they do not exist and have no access to public health care or education. They also can't vote. But in the run-up to October's elections, these people could constitute a potential political force. Our correspondents Perrine Juan, Louise Raulais and Tim Vickery take a closer look at the legal and social workers who are trying to help "ghost citizens".

The imprisonment and political exclusion of former President Lula da Silva was a violation of his rights, the UN has said. Lula is currently leading in polls for October's presidential election.

At the beginning of December, Brazil's president, Jair Bolsonaro, said he would make sure that fuel prices go down. Just the opposite has happened, and now unrest in the South American country is growing.

Posts on social networks have propagated the theory, based on claims by French doctor Didier Raoult, that vaccination has increased Covid-19 infections. FRANCE 24’s Georgina Robertson and Sophie Samaille look at some of the statistics and investigate in this week's show.

State media in North Korea has reported the deaths of six people with a "fever" a day after officials confirmed the country's first COVID-19 infection. More than 180,000 people are said to be isolated for treatment.

New data shows China's economy cooled sharply in April, as many cities including Shanghai suffered Covid-19 lockdowns. Industrial output dropped nearly 3 percent compared to a year before, while retail sales slumped 11 percent. Meanwhile, global wheat prices jump after India announces a ban on exporting the grain due to damage from a heatwave. Finally, we see how tourists are returning to Barcelona. The development is good news for local businesses but could revive tensions over mass tourism.

Since North Korea reported its first official coronavirus case last week, the WHO has warned it might spread rapidly in the unvaccinated country. Ruler Kim Jong Un wants the military to turn the tide.

Japan's GDP fell at an annualised rate of 1 percent in the first three months of this year as the Omicron variant of the coronavirus hampered consumer spending. Rising commodity prices also weighed on businesses in the world's third-largest economy. Plus, as unemployment remains stable in France at 7.3 percent, a steelworks factory in the northern city of Dunkirk is offering a cash bonus to employees to encourage them to recruit family members.

The catastrophic weather has forced dozens to flee their homes in Brazil's northeastern Pernambuco state. A red alert has been issued in the city of Recife for Sunday as well.

After studying philosophy, Brazilian national Pedro Cesarino grew tired of Western systems of knowledge and decided to study other ways of thinking and living. He is now a renowned anthropologist and has published articles and books based on his field research with the Amazon's Marubo community. His first novel tells the story of a melancholy anthropologist hoping to track down a myth in the Amazon rainforest. It explores the certainty with which many anthropologists approach the communities they study and the resulting misunderstandings. He joined us for Perspective.

The American and Brazilian presidents spoke on the sidelines of the Americas Summit, with Jair Bolsonaro trying to breathe life into his re-election campaign and Joe Biden keen to have something to show for his event.

Brazilian rescue teams have found a backpack and clothes belonging to British journalist Dom Phillips and tribal expert Bruno Pereira respectively. Their mission to find the missing men continues.