Far-right candidate Flavio Bolsonaro has pulled off a surprise win in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election. He defied most polls to win with 47 percent, compared to 45 percent for leftist incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva. We spoke to Thomas Zicman de Barros, a research fellow at CEVIPOF, the political research centre at Sciences Po University, and columnist for our sister radio station RFI. He told us that never before in Brazilian history has a candidate who was behind in the first round then succeeded in the second.

A journalist who has spent more than 20 years investigating Russian leader Vladimir Putin and who is recognised as perhaps Russia's finest investigative journalist has told FRANCE 24 that Putin's aim with the war in Ukraine is simply to prolong his power inside Russia. Roman Badanin has just published a book, "Le Tsar en personne" or "The Tsar in person" which delves into exactly how Putin's mind works. Badanin says Putin acts like a gang member, and his attitude is that "if you beat me, I will beat you even harder". The book is so far out in Russian and French, with an English version to follow. He spoke to us in Perspective.

An acclaimed American author has spoken to FRANCE 24 about his theories on how American society's opinion and ideas of social justice have changed since the presidency of Barack Obama. Thomas Chatterton Williams says the left became disillusioned during Obama's second term, and in later years amid the George Floyd protests and Covid-19 pandemic the discourse shifted – initially for the left, but this also impacted the right. The ripples of those times are still resonating today. His latest book is entitled "Summer of Our Discontent: The Age of Certainty and the Demise of Discourse".