Trump’s Afghanistan Strategy, Spain Attacks, Venezuela

Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan last year, international aid for the country has dried up. The pandemic and the ongoing food crisis have complicated an already dire economic situation. Unicef says that as more families are pushed deeper into poverty, they are forced to make desperate choices, such as putting children to work and marrying girls off at a young age. Our France 2 colleagues report.

Afghanistan is heading back to the pre-2001 dark days of the Taliban, and Western powers were naive if they ever thought this wouldn't be the case. That's the view of Heather Barr, associate women's rights director at Human Rights Watch. As women are told to cover their faces in public again and female television presenters are told to do the same, she spoke to us on Perspective about the how the Taliban are rolling back women's rights and what, if anything, the West can do about it. "Life has become a prison for most women and girls," she told us.

Emmanuel Macron's alliance is in a tight race with the new left-wing union NUPES according to initial projections. Macron is predicted to win a greater number of districts which could grant him a parliamentary majority.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his Iranian counterpart, Ebrahim Raisi, made the announcement at a joint press conference in Tehran. The two allies have both been heavily hit by US sanctions.

According to the United Nations, some 23 million people are suffering from acute hunger n Afghanistan, including 10 million children who urgently need help in order to survive. Since the start of the year, humanitarian organisations have been able to help 8.2 million people by providing food assistance, including emergency food rations and supplements for breastfeeding mothers and their infants. But this aid is dwindling fast and the situation, which has continually worsened since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, is reaching a critical stage. Our team reports from Herat, in north-western Afghanistan.

After choosing between the familiar faces on offer in April's presidential vote, the French legislative election campaign that followed seemed to many like a seven-week snoozefest. That was until Sunday night. Now, with the first round's ballots counted, Emmanuel Macron has just one week to convince voters to return a centrist majority to parliament for his second term as president. We break down the odds for next week's run-offs.

We take a look at the pressure facing Emmanuel Macron’s party as he tries to hold on to a parliamentary majority. US papers are discussing the second day of congressional hearings on the January 6, 2021 siege of the US Capitol. We also see how the British papers are tackling their top two stories: Rwanda immigration flights and changes to the Northern Ireland Protocol. Finally, we discuss the sexy side of cultural relics in Pompeii.

We take a look at how the press is covering the French, German and Italian leaders' visit to Kyiv. Meanwhile, French papers are largely divided over the country's upcoming legislative elections on Sunday. Also, Thailand gets closer to same-sex marriage legislation, while Saudi Arabia confiscates rainbow-coloured toys. Finally, the Washington Post debates whether QR code menus in restaurants should stay or go.

Forest fires have broken out both in Spain and France as a record early heat wave moves northward through Europe. And humans are not the only ones to suffer in the extreme temperatures.

Europe continues to struggle with a heat wave, though some have seen a respite from record high temperatures for the time of year. One of several wildfires has raged out of control on Greece's second-largest island.

Markus Potzel will be the United Nations' new deputy representative to Afghanistan. Between 2014 and 2016 he was Germany's ambassador to Kabul.

French President Emmanuel Macron is facing difficult negotiations after his centrist bloc lost its absolute majority in parliament. The conservatives have already ruled out forming a coalition.