The fatal beating of a 23-year-old man in Lyon has shocked France and ignited a fierce political row. The victim, Quentin Deranque, died in hospital after being attacked on February 12 near an event at Sciences Po Lyon attended by a left-wing politician. Prosecutors say he was assaulted during confrontations between rival activists and later succumbed to a traumatic brain injury, prompting a murder inquiry by French police.

The killing has intensified tensions between France's far right and far left in the run-up to key elections, with national figures calling for calm even as accusations fly about responsibility for the violence.

FRANCE 24's Mark Owen is joined by economist Renaud Foucart of Lancaster University to analyse the political and social fallout from this deeply troubling incident.

Produced by Charles Wente, Aline Bottin, Guillaume Gougeon and Ilayda Habip

Right now, 400 kilometres above the Earth's surface, orbiting at 17,500 miles per hour, or five miles per second, the new crew of the International Space Station are settling in. Among them is Sophie Adenot, the second female French astronaut. French former astronaut Michel Tognini shares his thoughts on this historic mission.

The team of four that make up Expedition 74 set off on Friday morning from Cape Canaveral. They are Jessica Meir and Jack Hathaway from the US; Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev; and Sophie Adenot, the second female astronaut from France after Claudie Haigneré three decades ago.

The ISS is considered the most expensive human-made engineering project in history, a total cost over its lifetime estimated at around $150 to 160 billion. Since 2000, for 25 years, it has been continuously occupied by humans living and working in a set of capsules in a football field-sized space, pushing the boundaries of science in space.

Sophie Adenot, a former helicopter pilot from Burgundy, says she's dreamed of this moment since she was tiny, despite the slim odds of doing it. She also says her family encouraged her from the start.

We hear from French former astronaut Michel Tognini.

Gavin Lee is pleased to welcome, live from Munich, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, Former Ukrainian Prime Minister, who served in the critical time in the recent history of Ukraine, 2014 to 2016.

There have been reports this week in the Financial Times suggesting that President Zelensky is planning to announce elections and a referendum, and that the announcement would likely come around the time of the fourth anniversary of the conflict in the next two weeks.

He's denied that, and this weekend at the Munich Security Conference is seen as another key moment to get a steer of the US position, and how the Trump administration is attempting manoeuvre in mediating an end to the conflict by the summer.

François Picard is pleased to welcome, live from Havana, Emily Morris, Honorary Senior Research Associate at University College London's Institute of the Americas. The US fuel embargo on Cuba has shifted from an abstract policy dispute into something felt in the grain of everyday life. This is not simply a "shortage", but a sequence of events: curtailed events, warnings of deeper power cuts and above all, a transport squeeze that limits mobility, work and institutional routines like universities moving remotely.

The most corrosive feature is uncertainty; the sense that people can adapt to hardship, but not to not knowing what comes next. The most likely scenario is a standoff: frustration in the US, hardship in Cuba, and rising international and domestic disquiet.

And if the goal is to trigger a rupture between citizens and the state, the mechanism may run the other way, because when hardship is visibly linked to external pressure, reliance on the government for basic provisioning often increases.

François Picard is pleased to welcome legal analyst and former US federal prosecutor Eric Lisann to offer in-depth analysis of the Epstein files in the US and across the globe. Mr. Lisann offers a damning account of the state of American democracy in the wake of the Epstein fallout worldwide: the US Department of Justice "was a primary pillar or institution in safeguarding democracy and the rule of law in the United States," he explains. "But it has been totally destroyed from within right now, and the consequences to society are severe."

Watch moreEpstein files special: Revelations, redactions & ramifications

Mr. Lisann has prosecuted cases, worked deep inside the system, and what he's laying witness to now is not just mere dysfunction, it’s what he describes as the dismantling of US institutions in a very deliberate manner.

For him, the handling of the Epstein files represents political theatre, not legal prudence: from the selective pardoning speculation, to the careless and wildly unpredictable redactions that hide the powerful and expose the victims. What remains is a justice system under siege, a disillusioned public and a power structure increasingly immune to scrutiny.

For Spotlight, Gavin Lee is pleased to welcome Dr. Andrew Lownie, historian and author of "Entitled: The Rise and Fall of the House of York". Over four years, he investigated Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Sarah Ferguson, peeling back layers of royal secrecy and entitlement. What he uncovered is a disturbing pattern of personal misconduct, which could even implicate Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie. There are also explosive revelations of systemic protection by the monarchy, the government and their vast network of enablers.

From the sex trafficking claims tied to Epstein to questionable business dealings that may have compromised national security, a portrait emerges of a British monarchy at a crossroads. Dr. Lownie's research – long dismissed, even suppressed – is now being vindicated as redacted documents surface and more victims come forward.

The question is no longer just about Andrew; it is about accountability, transparency, and whether Britain's most sacred institutions can withstand this level of scrutiny and the fallout that follows.

As FRANCE 24 marks World Cancer Day, François Picard welcomes Lars Henning Milman Engelholm, Associate Professor and Group Leader at the Finsen Laboratory, Rigshospitalet / Biotech Research & Innovation Centre (BRIC), University of Copenhagen. From his lab in Copenhagen, Professor Engelholm describes a seismic shift underway in pancreatic cancer research, the result of a decade-long commitment to the steady evolution of translational science.

At the heart of this shift are antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs): highly targeted therapies designed to reach what conventional treatments cannot. Engelholm's approach focuses on the complex biology of pancreatic tumours, where cancer cells are supported by surrounding stromal cells. His work highlights the vital role of university-led research in areas the pharmaceutical industry often deems too uncertain or unprofitable to pursue.

François Picard is pleased to welcome Elizabeth Dickinson, Deputy Director for Latin America at the International Crisis Group. She offers a nuanced, clear-eyed perspective on the shifting dynamics between the United States and Colombia. Through the lens of US domestic politics, Colombia's internal electoral cycle and the regional impact of counternarcotics policy, Ms. Dickinson underscores how spectacle and substance often coexist.

This Tuesday sees US President Donald Trump host his Colombian counterpart Gustavo Petro at the White House. While headline-grabbing rhetoric draws public attention, the deeper currents of security cooperation, strategic alignment and mutual interest remain remarkably stable, even in the midst of stormy weather.

For Ms. Dickinson, "a successful outcome of this meeting would simply be that it's a bit boring: a return to the quiet, hard work these two countries have carried out together for decades."

She argues "that cooperation never ceased, not during the Trump administration nor Petro's, despite disagreements over the details."