“Son of a bitch”, “emmerder”, “grab 'em by the pussy”...  How exactly do you translate a swear word uttered by the French president or any other political figure, so that an American, Spanish or Argentinian reader really gets the gist? Similarly, how to translate a profanity said by an American president for the benefit of francophone readers? Every time a head of state uses an expletive, the result is instant head-scratching and intense debate in the newsroom, explains Sebastien Blanc, head of AFP's French editing desk in Washington, with the input from his English-, Spanish-, and Arabic-speaking colleagues.

"To see her so shaken brought tears to my eyes. I started crying for the first time during an interview. It never happened before in my career, even in the worst situations. Behind the video camera, my colleague Justine stopped filming. Photographer Adek put down her camera. The despair of Rada had taken hold of the room and gave shape to those of Afghan women," writes Anne Chaon, recently returned from Afghanistan, where she met women fearing for the freedoms won over 20 years, or even their lives, as the Taliban gains ground every day.