Inside the Americas

Lawmakers in Virginia have voted to abolish the death penalty. The move marks the end of a long history of capital punishment in the state. Virginia currently has the highest number of executions in the United States. We take a closer look with FRANCE 24's Valérie Dekimpe.

In Peru, both the country's foreign minister and health minister have resigned over a vaccination scandal. Almost 500 Peruvian officials secretly received the Covid-19 vaccine before it was officially rolled out. We take a closer look.

In the US, the Covid-19 vaccine programme is being rolled out, but the shots are not getting into the arms of many people who need it most, particularly Black Americans. They make up just 13 percent of the US population, but account for more than 15 percent of Covid-19 deaths. And desite promises to increase equality in the wake of the Black Lives Matter movement, little has been done to improve vaccine access in disadvantaged neighbourhoods where the majority of essential workers live. Our Los Angeles correspondents Valérie Defert, Pierrick Leurent and Ryan Thompson report.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is a new Republican congresswoman from Georgia, just one of hundreds in the House. But in the words of Senator Mitch McConnell, she's behind "loony lies" that could be a "cancer" for the GOP. Greene is symbolic of the power struggle within the party and her fate is now in the hands of House Republicans who are deciding whether to punish her for extreme comments she made before winning her seat. We take a closer look.

The US is the country worst hit by Covid-19 and Americans make up one in four of the world's confirmed cases. President Joe Biden is working to lower that number by ramping up the heavily delayed delivery of vaccines. He says he wants 300 million Americans vaccinated by late summer or the autumn. But it's a steep road ahead. Current vaccine shortages have been so severe that tens of thousands of appointments have been cancelled for people hoping to get their first shot.

As Joe Biden becomes the new president of the United States after a bitterly contested election, Inside the Americas takes you to Washington and to his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware. In this special edition of the show, our team meets some of the people who made Biden the man he is today. We also discover the places where the president-to-be spent his time, such as the train that took him to Washington every day when he was a young senator.

In Mexico, authorities are trying to buck the worrying rise in obesity among young people. Some 73 percent of the country's population is overweight, with 29 percent of the nation said to be actually obese: one of the highest rates in the world. In one southern state, authorities have decided to outlaw the sale of junk food to minors, with the aim of slimming down youngsters. Our correspondents Laurence Cuvillier and Matthieu Comin report.

Regina Martinez was a Mexican journalist investigating links between drug cartels and local authorities. She was killed eight years ago, but an international collective of investigative journalists has now picked up the story she was working on before she died. We take a closer look.

When you think of your typical American cowboy, you imagine the hat, the stirrups, the horse... And chances are you probably imagine him a white man. And yet, after the civil war, as many as one-third of all cowboys were black. That reality, however, has been either hidden, ignored or overlooked in both American history books and in the country’s pop culture. But a group of modern-day cowboys is trying to change just that.

This week, Brazil was rocked by protests reminiscent of the Black Lives Matter movement in the US. The turning point was the brutal death of a 40-year-old black man, held down and beaten by two white security guards. A video of the killing went viral, prompting not just protests, but also a boycott of the French supermarket chain Carrefour where the violence took place. Our correspondents Pierre Le Duff and Laura Damase report.

Barack Obama's much-awaited memoir, "A Promised Land", is hitting the shelves. The 700-page tome takes us from the former US president's childhood to the killing of Osama bin Laden during his first term in office. In the book, he makes clear that Donald Trump's presidency was no accident and was triggered by his own stint in the top job. We take a closer look.

Donald Trump is still refusing to concede the US presidential election, even though the results say Joe Biden is the clear winner. That means the Biden transition team is blocked from moving into federal office space or receiving government money to hire staff. If the president continues to dig in his heels, it could mean anything but a peaceful transfer of power. We take a closer look.

Americans are holding their breath over the results of their presidential election. Joe Biden is on track to win the 270 electoral college votes he needs to become president-elect. But narrow margins separate him from President Donald Trump in several states that have yet to be called. Trump is refusing to concede and is going on the offensive with a series of legal challenges. Meanwhile, Biden has failed to win over Latino voters, especially in the state of Florida. We take a closer look and speak to Adam Smith, a professor of US politics at the University of Oxford.

America is heading to the polls to choose the nation's next president. Will it be Republican Donald Trump in place for a second term in office, or his Democratic challenger Joe Biden? From mask wars to the Covid-19 cluster at the White House, it's been a presidential campaign unlike any other. We look back at some of the key moments and bring you a closer look at the two candidates vying for the country's top job, who could not be more different.

Ahead of Election Day on November 3, we're answering your questions about the US presidential election and in particular the Electoral College. It's one of the most confusing aspects about the US election process. Many Americans themselves don't understand how it works, or even why it's still around. In five presidential elections so far – including the last one in 2016 – the eventual winner lost the popular vote, but won thanks to the Electoral College. We explain how it works.

The United States is caught up in a partisan war, pulling apart politicians, communities, even families. Differences that have been simmering for years are stoking America's famous melting pot and now look set to boil over. In this year's presidential campaign, it's no longer just Donald Trump versus Joe Biden, or Republican versus Democrat. It's Urban versus Rural, Black versus White, rich versus poor, mask versus no mask. The line between liberals on the left, and conservatives on the right has never been so clear.

Social media is everywhere these days. We take an in-depth look at just what kind of effect this growing online influence could have on voters in the US presidential election. What have the candidates, intelligence agencies and troll farms learnt since 2016 and what's changed this time around? We find out more and also speak to political analyst Caitlin Chin. Meanwhile, with Covid-19 forcing more and more campaigners to stay home, social networks are overflowing with influencers. We take a closer look at their impact on the US political landscape.

This week, US President Donald Trump and former vice president Joe Biden faced off in the first of three presidential debates ahead of the vote on November 3. This initial clash was chaotic, full of insults and – for many people – anything but presidential. FRANCE 24's Cole Stangler gives us his take.

The Supreme Court is the new political battleground in the United States, with the passing of feminist icon Ruth Bader Ginsburg opening up a seat at the country's highest judicial authority. In this special edition, we delve into the inner workings of that institution. We tell you how the Supreme Court works and take a closer look at two of the female nominees who could fill the crucial seat. Plus, we get analysis from author and journalist David A. Kaplan.

In the United States, a French film has found itself at the centre of controversy over the hyper-sexualisation of young girls. It's called "Cuties," or "Mignonnes" in French, and the irony is that it's being accused of the very thing the film is trying to criticise, according to its director. The backlash has prompted an online campaign to "Cancel Netflix," its distributor in the United States. We tell you more.