Soil: How it works

A weekly news show produced with photos, videos and personal accounts from FRANCE 24 Observers around the world – all checked by our staff here in Paris.

A weekly news show produced with photos, videos and personal accounts from FRANCE 24 Observers around the world – all checked by our staff here in Paris.

The U.N. human rights chief said on Monday the situation in northern Ethiopia had deteriorated since November and her office had received reports of wide-spread violations including rapes and lethal airstrikes. Michelle Bachelet told the Geneva-based Human Rights Council her staff had recorded 304 deaths and injuries to 373 people in air attacks "apparently carried out by the Ethiopian Air Force" in Tigray and Afar regions.

When a large lagoon in central Chile dried up, climate change seemed the likeliest culprit. But researchers found a more insidious threat: systematic privatization of water. Could a new constitution change all that?

The French presidential election is just around the corner. With the official campaign period in full swing, we explore a particularity of the French electoral system: a candidate's access to mass media. France has a very egalitarian view when it comes to a candidate's access to TV and radio. The idea is for candidates, big or small, to have an equal playing field and for voters to have access to a wide range of ideas. But is this complex system still in step with modern politics?

Heads of states, scientists and campaigners head to Dakar for the World Water Forum as the UN warns that water security across the continent is dangerously low. And high seas protection talks fail to reach a deal.

"Levels of water security in Africa overall are unacceptably low. Not a single country or sub-region has yet achieved the highest level of the model or even the reasonably high effective stages of national water security," the report said.

Water security in Africa 'unacceptably low' (UN) In tonight's edition: Heads of states, scientists and campaigners head to Dakar for the World Water Forum as the UN warns that water security across the continent is dangerously low. And high seas protection talks fail to reach a deal.

More than half of India's population doesn't have access to clean drinking water. Contaminated water is not only disastrous for people's health and the environment, it is also estimated to cost the country more than half a billion euros annually. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pledged to bring clean drinking water to all households by 2024, by investing €45 billion. But can he deliver? Our correspondents report on the ambitious Jal Jeevan Mission.

There are just 16 days to go before the first round of the French presidential election. In this edition of the show, we follow far-right candidate Eric Zemmour on a rocky visit to a "crack camp" in northern Paris. We also take a closer look at why young voters might not go to the polls on April 10.

Find these stories and much more when you grab a copy of The Guardian on Tuesday.⁣

Indian mystic and visionary Sadhguru is making a 100-day motorbike journey from Europe to India to raise awareness of soil erosion. He told FRANCE 24's Delano D'Souza why he feels his mission is important for humankind. With more than half of agricultural soils are already degraded, Sadhguru warned that "there is no alternative to soil". He also described his own personal journey, saying that he does not see himself as a guru.