Five years ago, it was a party. This time it felt more like a town hall reception after a marriage of reason. Two hours after French voters had handed their now 44-year-old president a second term, Emmanuel Macron's acceptance speech was already over and supporters were set to call it an early night beneath the Eiffel Tower. From abroad, many were asking: how can a 15-point margin turn into a sobering affair?

While the official threshold for a COVID wave has not yet been reached, South Africa is facing a surge of infections driven by omicron sub-variants.

Compared to other industrialised countries, French people tend to live relatively long lives. Currently the oldest person alive in the world is a French woman: a Catholic nun living in the South of France. So what’s the secret? Do long lunch breaks and red wine have something to do with it? What’s the economic impact of an aging population and what can the country do to improve care for a growing number of dependent people?

An election committee composed largely of pro-Beijing figures voted for John Lee, a former security official, to be the new leader of Hong Kong. Lee, the only candidate in the vote, replaces Carrie Lam in July.

Colombo has seen clashes between government supporters and protesters outside the offices of the president and prime minister. Hours later, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa offered to step down.

At his inauguration ceremony, President Yoon Suk-yeol has proposed an "audacious" economic plan to aid North Korea, if it gives up its nuclear program.

Since 2006, France has commemorated the national day of the abolition of slavery on May 10. France is the only country to have a national day dedicated to remembering the horrors of slavery and the first and only country to have declared slavery a crime against humanity. However, the way this history is taught in schools and addressed in public spaces suggests that it remains something of a taboo. Historian and political scientist Françoise Vergès joined us for Perspective to tell us more.

A masterpiece of classical architecture, the Château de Vaux-le-Vicomte, located outside Paris, was the forerunner of Versailles. Contained within its walls are three and a half centuries of history. That legacy is now the responsibility of the three brothers who inherited it on the death of their father: Ascanio, Alexandre and Jean-Charles. The château is regularly the scene of construction sites but some restoration must be done by hand, for instance to restore the central wrought iron gates to their former glory. FRANCE 24 takes you behind the scenes.

On 23rd May 1998, a silent protest of 40,000 people, mainly from Guadeloupe, Martinique, Guyana and Réunion, took place in Paris between Place de la République and Place de la Nation, marking the 150th anniversary of the abolition of slavery on 27th April 1848.

Thousands of Senegalese soldiers fought for France against the Nazis in World War II. But on December 1, 1944, as many as 400 of them were murdered in cold blood: not by the Germans, but by the very French forces they fought alongside. The massacre was swept under the rug for decades, preventing victims and their relatives from any form of closure or recognition. Marie Thomas-Penette and François-Xavier Destors' new documentary "Thiaroye 44" is one of the first to explore this dark chapter of France's colonial past. The directors joined us for Perspective.

Ahmed Nasser Al-Raisi, who became president of the international police agency last year, is being accused of complicity in the torture of two British men who were detained in the UAE.

Recent visitors to France will no doubt have noticed the return of foreign tourists. Two years of Covid-19 took a heavy toll on what is otherwise a booming business and an important part of the French economy. Now things appear to be looking up again for the tourist industry. For decades, France has been the number one tourism destination in the world, ahead of Spain and the US. So what explains this lasting success? We take a closer look in this edition of French Connections.