He was a genius who left a lasting mark on France. As military architect to King Louis XIV, Vauban imagined a series of impregnable citadels to protect the country, from Besançon to the Ile de Ré. Each time, the architect reinvented himself to take into account the local geography and landscape. Today, many of these buildings remain key French landmarks. We take a closer look.

The former prime minister has died from his injuries after a shooting at the age of 67. Shinzo Abe resigned from the top post in 2020, but his legacy has had a lasting impact on everyday Japanese life and politics.

Slovakia will have Polish and Czech fighter jets protect its airspace as it gives up its old Soviet-made MiGs. The NATO allies are chiming in to uphold the eastern flank until Slovakia receives new jets in 2024.

Germany admired the architect of glasnost and perestroika in a way that Russia never did. At the age of 91, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev has died.

Gorbachev, in power between 1985 and 1991, played a key role in ending the Cold War but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Can a single person change the world? Yes, is the consensus after the passing of Mikhail Gorbachev. And change it for the better, claims the West: the last Soviet leader boldly brought the USSR in from the cold: reforming and agreeing to independence for satellite states, all without bloodshed.

Mikhail Gorbachev, one of the most influential political figures of the 20th century, was laid to rest in a relatively low-key ceremony and without the presence of the current Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Statues of Lenin and other communists were removed shortly after independence in 1991. But since the start of the war in Ukraine this year, other sculptures have also disappeared — and reappeared next to goats and birds.

Boris Johnson is soon to leave Downing Street for the last time. According to a recent Ipsos survey, the British public rank him as the country's worst performing postwar leader. Johnson will be forever remembered as one of the men behind Brexit and as a PM who attended illegal parties at Downing Street during lockdown. But some Conservatives are already nostalgic for the leader they affectionately call "Boris". FRANCE 24's Julien Sauvaget and Clovis Casali report from across the UK on Johnson's divisive legacy.

He is the candidate of hope and renewal for some, a demon of the past and a symbol of corruption for others. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who became Brazil's first left-wing president in 2002, hopes to return to the country’s top job after the presidential election, whose first round takes place on October 2.

It's been five years since the metoo hashtag transformed gender dynamics in Hollywood. Though it began in the US film industry, it set off a domino effect, stoking a worldwide conversation about sexism, sexual harassment and misogyny.

FRANCE 24's Europe team brings you a new series of Europe Now programmes, focusing on "levelling up" – efforts aimed at making life more equal across Europe's many and diverse regions