Our Focus programme brings you exclusive reports from around the world, followed by comment and analysis from our newsroom in Paris. Monday to Friday at 7.15 am and 11.15 pm.
In the haze: Beijing's pollution problem won't go away
China's capital is suffocating from pollution more than ever. Recent weeks have seen the level of fine particles - the most dangerous - rise to 30 times the normal level recommended by the WHO. Facing harsh criticsm from the people, the Beijing authorities announced a massive programme to reduce pollution in the coming years. Yet, five years after tackling the problem in order to stage the Olympics, it's yet another example of how authorities have promised a "new era" for Beijing.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai is favourite to secure a second term in next week's presidential poll. But five years after Karzai's first election, Afghans prepare to vote again in a country plagued by the worst violence since the fall of the Taliban.
In this edition: After charity head Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband were found dead in Chechnya in yet another murder of an NGO worker in the conflict-torn region, Focus looks at the dangers of being a human rights activist in Russia.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, has long felt shielded from the threat of radical Islamists. But the July attacks in Jakarta and a recent shootout with suspected terrorists have dispelled this feeling of safety.
The recent suicide bombing near the French embassy in Mauritania's capital has once again highlighted terrorist activity in the country, something that newly elected president Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz has promised to fight against.
Since the beginning of this year, an estimated 200 people have been kidnapped in in Kenya. The police suspect the Mungiki sect to be behind this new worrying phenomenon, but others say the group is a convenient scapegoat.
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