Smuggling is a huge part of the Iranian economy. All kinds of products change hands illegally in Iran, from contraband items like alcohol and satellite dishes, to washing machines, phones and car parts. However, little is known about these people who operate in the shadows. We're joined by Ershad Alijani from the FRANCE 24 Observers, who presents a special report on the issue.

This French Renaissance-style castle would probably have remained largely unknown if it hadn't become home to the secret wife of Louis XIV, Madame de Maintenon. Françoise d'Aubigné – her real name – was a woman of humble origins who is often compared to Cinderella. After Louis secretly married her, the Château de Maintenon underwent numerous transformations as she put her own stamp on it. Meanwhile, the French-style garden was designed by renowned landscape architect André Le Nôtre but was only laid out in 2013.

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?

At 94, Saturnino Lopez says he can walk four kilometres in a day. Awake early in the morning, he cuts firewood at his home on the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica, one of the areas with the longest-living inhabitants on the planet.

A collar camera fitted to a dingo in Australia captures the dog's life on Fraser Island, as part of efforts to track and prevent interactions between people and the wild dogs. From posing for snap-happy onlookers to scavenging on the pristine sand of the world heritage site off Queensland's coast, the collar camera captured the daily life of the dog, also known as wongari, in close up detail for the first time, according to the Queensland Department of Environment and Science.

Forced by the pandemic to swap city living for the rural life they had left behind, Egberto and Prudencia fell back on an old family tradition. Last winter, this Bolivian couple began making chuno using a technique widespread in the Andean region to preserve potatoes through a natural freeze-drying process which allows them to be eaten decades after they are dug up.

Training courses for young female entrepreneurs are bringing about a transformation in commerce in Niger with the so-called women's fairs in Niamey. The events are attended by many customers, including foreigners. The fairs offer quality handicraft products and generate sales of about €15,000 over three days.

Nigeria's secret police parades impersonator of President Buhari's wife.