This week, we're following in the unmistakable stride of Charles de Gaulle, as we mark 80 years since his June 18 Appeal to join the Free French Forces against Nazi occupation. Of course, it was actually from London, on the BBC airwaves, that the General launched his call to action, just four days after victorious German troops paraded down Paris's Champs-Élysées. But while the date is forever ingrained in France's collective memory for its historic significance, the truth is that it didn't immediately play out as the founding moment of the French Resistance.

While claiming to rule by divine will, in the last couple of years, Burundi's President Pierre Nkurunziza turned the country into a living hell for many. Will Burundi be able to overcome his legacy?

60 years after independence, traces of the system of exploitation and violence that Leopold II and colonial-era Belgium created still remain in DR Congo. The propensity for violence is inherited, experts say.

All that remains of what was once a Civil War-era cotton plantation is a crumbling building overgrown by weeds. But the legacy of slavery in Jefferson County in the Deep South US state of Mississippi remains clearly visible.

Will Smith and his family have been honoured with the Robin Williams Legacy of Laughter Award.

Who are we, and where did we come from? These are the questions Yuval Noah Harari, historian and philosopher, attempts to answer in the first volume of the graphic edition of his bestselling book: “Sapiens, the birth of human kind”. If our guest goes back in time, it’s to help his readers understand the challenges of our present: against the backdrop of the ongoing crisis, the world community needs come up with a global response, and urgently keep its trust in the scientific truth.

When France deployed troops to Afghanistan between 2001 and 2014, most of them served in the Kapisa province. The region had a reputation of being the worst place to be sent: of the 89 French soldiers who died in Afghanistan, two-thirds of them died in Kapisa, fighting the Taliban alongside the Afghan army. France also funded a number of development projects in the region.

To mark the anniversary of Coco Chanel's death on January 10, 1971, fashion expert Jessica Michault and Eve Jackson take a look at the French designer's greatest styles, the fashion empire she created and her not-so fashionable links with the Nazis.

A second nationality has become a vital tool in safeguarding one’s future from instability and unpredictability in the 21st century. For nearly four decades, St Kitts and Nevis has welcomed global individuals and their families to become lifelong citizens after contributing to its economy and passing all due diligence checks. In exchange, successful applicants gain access to various advantages including increased global mobility, alternative business routes and the ability to pass citizenship down for generations to come.

The Japanese town of Taro had sea walls that were supposed to be able to survive almost anything the ocean could offer up, but the 2011 tsunami still brought utter destruction. A decade after the deadly waves unleashed by one of the most powerful earthquakes in recorded history, the lesson learned in many coastal towns was: build higher.

Cardinal Reinhard Marx's decision to waive one of Germany's highest honors is a sign that "church aristocracy" is finally glancing at past harm done, say sexual abuse victims.

This year marks the bicentenary of Napoléon Bonaparte's death, but two centuries on, his legacy remains controversial. Was he a heroic reformer or a racist, misogynistic tyrant? While he contributed massively to the modern French state, there are also darker aspects to his legacy, such as his reintroduction of slavery to islands in the Caribbean and the Indian Ocean in 1802. The debate over how and even whether to commemorate the emperor rages on in France. We take a closer look in this edition of French Connections.