Far from the war in Ukraine and the multiple fronts in the Middle East, a power grab between feuding coup leaders rages on. Since April of 2023, Sudan has descended into a full-blown civil war where momentum's swung several times and may be again, what with the government forces of Abdelfatah al-Buhran trying to recapture the whole of the capital and a senior general switching sides defecting from the Rapid Support Forces of Mohamed Hamdam Dogolo aka Hemedti, who has laid siege to the last major city beyond his reach inside his native Darfur.Wewill ask about the dire situation there, the spillover effect everywhere from the Sahel to the Horn of Africa and the discrete backers who make this nightmare possible. Rival sides found themselves at the same table at this week’s Brics summit in Russia. With the West helpless elsewhere, what can be done to stop Sudan’s wanton destruction and put its revolution of 2021 back on the rails?Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Annarosa Zampaglione. 

It is the homestretch of a fiercely partisan presidential race in the United States, a nation where political fault lines seem to increasingly match the gender of the voter who is casting a ballot.If you are an American woman, you are more and more likely to vote for Kamala Harris, if you are a man, for Donald Trump. Why does this election seem like a battle of the sexes? The Economist magazine recently ran a story entitled crypto bros versus cat ladies. We will hear from a researcher quoted in a piece that reveals that gender gap’s about much more than cultural tastes. When Barack Obama chastises the growing number of black men voting Republican, is it about their skin color or just simply that they are men. Beyond views on abortion and reproductive rights, there is fears in a fast-changing world over economic opportunities on both sides of the divide. Are those rival concerns and fears justified? How do they play out electorally? Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Annarosa Zampaglione. 

Not too shabby a week so far for Russia’s leader of twenty-four years. Sandwiched between a Moldova referendum where the pro-EU camp underwhelmed and a crucial general election in fellow Soviet state Georgia.  Forget International Criminal Court arrest warrants. Vladimir Putin rolling out the red carpet for dozens of leaders by the banks of the Volga in the Tatarstan’s capital Kazan.Despite Western sanctions over Ukraine and the sputterings of a slowing Chinese economy, at the BRICS summit, new names are lining up to join, the BRICS being a club of emerging world giants whose fortunes seemed tied the whims of world commodity prices. If as billed it is much more than a trade talk shop, then what are the BRICS all about in 2024?And if Vladimir Putin’s having a good week so far, what about in two weeks if Donald Trump returns to the White House? We’ll ask our panel how the former Soviet world sees that prospect. Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Annarosa Zampaglione. 

Is the off ramp in sight or did Benjamin Netanyahu’s government deliberately blow past it?If achieving the stated aim of killing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar offers Israel a reason to relent in Gaza and Lebanon, that has yet to happen. The days since have been particularly lethal: air strikes near Beirut targeting Hezbollah’s financial assets just as United States envoy Amos Hochstein was touching down to talk ceasefire conditions. We will ask if we are witnessing the storm before the calm, or if there is no plan to de-escalate.With the U-S Secretary of State following Hochstein, Israel mindful of growing pressure from its allies, organizing press tours for journalists to show renewed aid deliveries to Gaza. But the UN accuses Israeli authorities of continuing to obstruct delivery of critical aid. On that score, France’s president, suggesting Sinwar’s death “must be an opportunity to begin a new phase of negotiation.” We will get the panel’s take on Emmanuel Macron’s latest pronouncement and the verbal jousting with Netanyahu that preceded it.  Produced by Théophile Vareille, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Habip. 

He masterminded the bloodiest day in Israel's history. One year and one week later comes news that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been killed. Before October 7, much of the planet knew only the names and faces of Hamas's political leadership in exile, but that all changed when the 62-year-old native of Khan Younis launched the devastating attacks from Gaza. We ask if Sinwar's demise is a turning point for the war and if it will bring any hope of a ceasefire in Gaza. Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Hapip. 

Can Europe compete? Part of the answer is on display in Hall 5 of the Paris Motor Show, which opened its doors to the public on Tuesday. Chinese maker BYD is signalling its play for the French market with affordable – albeit subsidized – fully electric models. We ask about EU pushback against those subsidies, and how the homegrown competition is faring. Governments invested massively in the switch away from gas guzzlers, in what seemed like a masterstroke for a continent in need of both tackling climate change and a fresh start coming out of the pandemic. But now, public money is running dry. The most glaring example: France has been forced to slash its subsidy to EV buyers. We will ask if a burgeoning electric vehicle market could cave.As we recently saw when looking at the US presidential race, we see how here too the green transition has become a battleground in bitter culture wars. So where's the middle of the road?

How porous are sanctions? The war in Ukraine has familiarised this show with the concept of dual-use products, like the washing machine whose computer chip can power a lethal drone. FRANCE 24's investigative news website The Observers got reports from citizen journalists in Iran during the 2022 "Woman, Life, Freedom" protests about shotgun cartridges made in France and used in the crackdown on peaceful protesters. We track their journey from the factory to the streets.  Speaking of sanctions, we ask about an Iran that's been living under them for years, that's holding its breath ahead of Israel's forthcoming response to its missile salvos and to a US election with possible consequences on the scale of pressure and isolation.Watch our investigation in fullRepression in Iran, ammunition made in France

They are called peacekeepers, but what is their mission when they can not keep the peace?The United Nations along with the forty nations that contribute UNIFIL blue helmets to monitor the buffer zone in South Lebanon condemning the growing standoffs with Israel’s invading army that have culminated in a tank ramming the gates of an observation post Sunday. We will hear about the fallout and comment on the counterargument. Israeli defense forces releasing drone footage purporting to show a Hezbollah position that is literally a stone’s throw away from a UNIFIL base. What is the UN’s job when Hezbollah fires rockets for eleven-plus months out of a zone that is supposed to be the reserve of the Lebanese army? What does the world body do when Israel asks the peacekeepers to get out of the way?There is a broader issue: UN bashing is a pretty safe sport, particularly when a permanent Security Council member like the United States has your back, but what is the alternative? Benjamin Netanyahu may score political points at home for slapping a travel ban on secretary General Antonio Gutteres, but what are the actual consequences? Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Habip. 

Time is not on Volodymyr Zelensky's side. Ukraine's president is on a tour of five European cities in two days as he seeks the green light for longer-range missile strikes inside Russia from NATO allies. In a week that has seen his side lose two key towns in the Donbas region, fate seems to be conspiring against Zelensky as Hurricane Milton keeps Joe Biden away from a now-scrapped summit of Kyiv's allies in Germany. With November 5 fast approaching and US voters' enthusiasm for backing Ukraine waning, how does Kyiv handle the prospect of an eventual return of Donald Trump to the White House?A new book by Watergate journalist Bob Woodward purports to shed more light on the cosy relationship between the Republican candidate and the master of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, who Trump has referenced more than ever in upbeat terms on the campaign trail.Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Annarosa Zampaglione. 

Here in France, the flood waters are rising as the remnants of Storm Kirk dump biblical amounts of rain. But that's just a drop in the bucket compared with what the southeastern United States faces. Hurricane Milton is forcing the evacuation of 5.5 million Florida residents, with President Joe Biden warning this could become the storm of the century. Even more dramatic is that Florida, Georgia, the Carolinas and beyond are still reeling from the US's deadliest storm since 2005, with Hurricane Helene killing at least 230 people and causing billions in destruction.Now is not the time for partisan politics, or is it? Democrats accuse Republicans of a mass disinformation campaign about the rescue and cleanup effort from Helene, while Donald Trump doubles down on accusations that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris funnelled money to charities that help migrants.Just how much will Mother Nature be on the ballot on November 5? More broadly, there is a populist backlash on both sides of the Atlantic against carbon-cutting policies. According to Hungary's Viktor Orban, France's Marine Le Pen and Germany's far right, those policies punish the pocketbooks of the middle classes while taking away individual freedoms.Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Annarosa Zampaglione. 

When does escalation morph into overreach? On October 8, the one-year anniversary of the first Hezbollah rockets fired on Israel, the IDF is announcing the killing of another top-ranking Hezbollah commander – the heir apparent to Hassan Nasrallah – and the deployment of a fourth division to southern Lebanon. Militarily, the Israelis have so far been wildly successful, neutralising much of the enemy's leadership and thereby cashing in on years of painstaking intelligence work. But what is the precise objective of it all?After flattening Gaza for a year, Israel has already forced an estimated 1.2 million Lebanese to flee their homes. To what end? Israelis employ the adage that to make peace, you first need war. We ask our panel if that makes sense, as the world waits for Israel's response to direct rocket attacks by Hezbollah's patron Iran.And does this escalation serve the interests of Israel's allies? In the United States, talk of brokering a truce alongside France has gone quiet. Is Joe Biden or Binyamin Netanyahu driving policy in Washington?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Annarosa Zampaglione. 

It was an unspeakable terror attack that succeeded: succeeded in shock value, succeeded in triggering a massive overreaction that has appalled the planet, succeeded in stoking an escalation that's drawn in the whole region. Fortunately, not everyone is hell-bent on an all-out clash of civilisations in the Middle East. On the anniversary of the Hamas-led October 7 attacks, at a time when public opinion in Israel supports the widening of the campaign into Lebanon and retaliation against Iran, we put some simple questions to a panel that instead wants to find the path to peaceful co-existence between Israelis and Palestinians.Where to start? How to address and process the genuine fear felt by both sides? And what can the international community do? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati, Ilayda Habip and Annarosa Zampaglione.Watch moreOctober 7 attacks: Israel's intelligence failures 

As Israel ponders its response to Iran, as allies urge restraint, as battles targeting Tehran proxies rage in Lebanon, let4s begin with a simple fact of geography: Iran and Israel don’t share a common border. Since October 8, Tehran has been touting a so-called axis of resistance, what Israelis brand a ring of fire with Iranian-backed militants in Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen and Syria… to which the US would add Iraq. Are the past two weeks of military successes, are we seeing a short run that restores a measure of aura for Israeli might, or something more profound that could deal a blow to these non-state actors and upend the region's balance in ways unseen since the 1979 Iranian revolution? One can look at Middle East rivalries and alliances through the prism of Israel4s relations with its neighbors, but also through the up-and-down Sunni-Shia divide.In the middle are the likes of Jordan, whose military shot down Iranian missiles on Tuesday night. Its own population sees no good outcome in the current spike in tensions. With the US and Europe ineffective in stopping this spiral the past 12 months, is there any bold initiative that can turn the current nightmare into a positive dynamic?

After a string of setbacks and humiliations that include the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Lebanon, Iran has fired its long-range missiles directly at Israel. As Binyamin Netanyahu and his generals ponder their next move, there are obvious targets and huge unknowns. First, the pager attacks of two weeks ago on Hezbollah command became a bombing campaign that triggered the mass displacement of Lebanese civilians. Then came signs of growing incursions into Lebanon and now direct confrontation on a whole new scale between Israel and Iran.Since October 7 of last year, US diplomacy has been in overdrive to prevent an out-of-control regional war. Can an ageing lame duck president be heard above the din of blaming and brinkmanship? If not, then who?

It's only the second time that Iranian missiles have rained down on Israel. Tehran's pushback comes as no surprise to François Picard's panel after a string of humiliations that included last week's assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the targeting of the militant group's top commanders. Will the response beget more retaliation? Who to stop the spiral, with the United States currently in a state of limbo ahead of its presidential election?

Seventy-two hours on from the bombing of Beirut and the killing of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader and figurehead of the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah, Israeli air strikes have continued relentlessly on three fronts: in Lebanon, Gaza and Yemen. Israel's military thinks it has Hezbollah on the ropes, assassination after assassination, with the senior chain of command effectively wiped out according to the US. The Hamas leader in Lebanon was killed this Monday. Central Beirut was hit for the first time too, with the leaders of another Palestinian militant group killed there. Israel's opposition leader and former defence minister Benny Gantz says this is a moment of opportunity that can weaken what he called Iran's ring of fire with proxies surrounding his country. According to reports in The Washington Post, Israel has told Washington it is planning a limited ground operation in Lebanon.We analyse the many questions of where this conflict stands, the humanitarian situation for almost a million displaced Lebanese, and where the conflict could be heading.Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Habip.

Ceasefire or all-out war? While Israel's prime minister headed to UN Week in New York, his office stated that Binyamin Netanyahu had not even started considering a Franco-American plan for a 21-day truce with Hezbollah. Word of the plan was greeted with immediate pushback from hawks within Netanyahu's right-wing cabinet. As Israeli jets continue to pound Lebanon, as top brass talk up the potential for a ground invasion, Hezbollah and its main backer Iran are more circumspect: they are still reeling from last week's exploding electronic devices and the killing of three of the militant group's top commanders. They would gladly consider an all-in-one US plan to wind up fighting both in Gaza and on Lebanon's border. The question remains: what are Israel's goals going forward? Has it weakened Hezbollah enough? Has it restored an aura of regional might that first teetered with its inconclusive 2006 war with Hezbollah and then shattered last October 7 when Hamas attacked from Gaza? Can a prime minister who probably faces an inquiry over Gaza when the guns go silent keep up a perpetual state of war? And is Lebanon doomed to forever remain a battleground for all the region's proxy wars?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Mélissa Kalaydjian.

Winter is coming. So are the US elections. So how about diplomacy? It's UN Week in New York and before heading to Washington, Ukraine's president is trying to rally support for what he's branded his "victory plan". How much support and how much leverage can he expect? On the battlefield, Ukraine is on the backfoot in the brutal battle for Pokrovsk in the east, but has scored a huge moral boost with its cross-border incursion into Kursk. We bring you an exclusive FRANCE 24 report from that Russian region.And of course, we ask our panel if any deal can be struck, whoever the next occupant of the White House is and whether it is all down to who sits at the Kremlin. Read moreExclusive: On the ground in Russian territory held by Ukrainian forcesProduced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Mélissa Kalaydjan. 

Will it be all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah? What was a dangerous dance is now a major escalation. Monday’s air strikes killed hundreds and triggered a mass exodus by civilians. Not since 2006 had Lebanon experienced such scenes. Could a ground invasion follow? From 1985 to 2000, Israel and its proxies got bogged down in an occupation of South Lebanon. Since that time, Iran-backed Hezbollah has massively reinforced its arsenal, which includes seemingly untouched long-range missiles.Hezbollah did not launch an October 7-style attack like Hamas did from Gaza, but its repeated rocket launches have forced tens of thousands to flee northern Israel. What is the best way to guarantee security for civilians on both sides of the border? And since it's UN Week and world leaders are rubbing elbows on the sidelines of the General Assembly in New York, what can the international community do to prevent the escalation from engulfing the entire Middle East?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Mélissa Kalaydjan.

Back in May, Emmanuel Macron said he wanted to clear the air and called surprise snap elections. Nine weeks and one hung parliament later, does the naming of France's new centre-right coalition government seal his fate for the history books as a lame duck president whose gamble backfired miserably? Even a term-limited French president has powers at his disposal and the cabinet named on Saturday seems even weaker than Macron. It is beholden to a National Assembly that is also weak: split three ways between left, centre-right and far right. When push comes to shove, is it the presidential palace that's got the strongest hand of the lot? New Prime Minister Michel Barnier's main task is to get a budget over the line. The EU's former Brexit negotiator does so while inheriting an off-the-charts deficit. Yes, Macron's "whatever it costs" spending policies during Covid saved small businesses and helped win him re-election in 2022. Is now the time to pay the piper?More broadly, what to make of the most right-wing government since the days of Nicolas Sarkozy more than a decade ago? What immigration policy is likely? And with Marine Le Pen's National Rally dangling the threat of a no-confidence vote at any time over Barnier's government, how far to the right is France in 2024? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Mélissa Kalaydjan. 

"Rape is rape." Gisèle Pélicot emphatic on the stand Wednesday in a trial that has sent shockwaves beyond France’s borders: the 71-year old retiree batting away suggestions that the 50 defendants invited by her ex-husband to enter their bedroom when she was under sedation could have engaged in anything in the slightest consensual. Pélicot’s drawn admiration for her decision to waive her right to protection from the public eye and to sit front and center in the courtroom every day since the September 2nd opening of the trial in the southern city of Avignon.We will ask about that choice and a case that raises questions about individual guilt and collective responsibility: how many in the picturesque Provence village of Mazan knew? As her mental and physical health deteriorated over years, it was only when gendarmes investigating a cold case came across lewd photos shared over the Internet that she discovered the horror.Why did no one come forward? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati, Ilayda Habip & Annarosa Zampaglione. 

A precision operation that’s part of a grander scheme or a one-off magic trick to score spy ops points against the enemy?Either way, what to make of a second day of exploding devices that has killed a dozen and wounded more than 3-thousand? Hezbollah's response awaited after a security breach that will go down in the history books: how did those recently-equipped pagers explode? Why the aftershock of exploding walkie-talkies in several regions. We will examine possible scenarios.  We will see how Lebanon’s digesting its worst casualty toll since the August 2021 port of Beirut explosion, the options available to Hezbollah and its Iranian backers - Tehran's ambassador to Lebanon among the injured and how the timing impacts what’s already a conflict on two fronts.For now, Israel is tight-lipped. It does not have to claim responsibility for the kind of derring do operation that is normally the reserve of a John Le Carré novel or a James Bond movie, but does technical prowess imply political smarts? Time will tell. Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Habip.

A daring operation with no claim of responsibility... ... but with the pagers of Hezbollah members exploding in Lebanon and Syria, with Iran's ambassador in Beirut among the injured, all eyes turning to Israeli services. For years, militants of the Tehran-backed militant group have been warned off using cellphones, preferring ethernet cables and pagers to communicate. Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati 

How violent are liberal democracies these days? Authorities in the U.S. are investigating what is possibly the second assassination attempt against Donald Trump of this general election campaign. We will ask about the probe and whether there is a link between violent rhetoric and actual acts of violence. From the assassination of Japan’s former leader Shinzo Abe to the recent attempt on the life of Slovakia’s prime minister Robert Fico, each example is different.But is there something about America, the land of gun rights and the pioneer spirit of the Wild West, that makes it unique among Western powers? What impact does this violence have on voters? And when they count ballots, will the pen be mightier than the sword? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

We have asked the question before: does Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine put superpowers on a collision course? With the revelation that Iran is supplying Russia with not just drones but ballistic missiles, allies strongly suggest that a UK-US summit in Washington this Friday could, on the quiet, mean the end to the Biden administration's restrictions on Ukraine using the long-range missiles it provides for strikes deep inside Russia.  Already Kyiv is growing bolder in response to the Kremlin's relentless targeting of its critical infrastructure, with Ukrainian drones this week hitting a military airport near Moscow and aiming for bases in Murmansk, all the way on the Arctic Sea. What would be legitimate targets for US-made ATACMs and Franco-British-made Storm Shadows? In view of Tehran's role, could war in the Middle East and tensions in eastern Europe conflate into one?On that score, we hear what the candidates for US president had to say in their Tuesday showdown. How is that electoral campaign weighing on the military campaign between Russia and Ukraine?Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Habip. 

So what are these debates about? Not the ones in this studio. No argument on that one. No, the debates between candidates for elected office: are they about substance or style? Policy or punch lines? Our panel’s brought its scorecard from Tuesday’s one and so far only showdown between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. We’ll ask if it all went to script, and what that script is in a tight race with huge consequences for the whole planet. A fleeting instance of infotainment or a moment that might move the needle?Central is the strategy: in 2024, is it all about energizing your followers or convincing the undecided and the apathetic? What does this race say about the United States and the path it wants to pursue? Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Ilayda Hapib. 

 After a stint at the Dutch embassy in Caracas, Venezuela’s opposition canddiate for president Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia preferring exile in Spain to arrest by his election rival, incumbent Nicolas Maduro. Did the 76-year old former diplomat do the right thing?  How about the leader of the opposition coalition Maria Corina Machado? The conservative – who was barred from running – insists she is staying put in Venezuela all the while playing hide and seek with authorities who are also threatening her with jail time.As for the successor of Hugo Chavez, he claims he won in the July 28th first round with 56-percent, but still has not released precinct-by-precinct figures to prove it. In the past, Maduro could count on stallwarths of the Latin American left to back him. Will it be different this time? Already Chile’s left-wing president’s denounced the result while neighbors Brazil and Colombia – who had offered to mediate this latest crisis – are weighing their options.More broadly, how does oil-rich Venezuela do it? It seems to lurch from crisis to crisis with no change at the top in a quarter-century. What are the options for the opposition? What are the options for the country’s 28 million citizens? Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Maria Rosa Zampaglione. 

As Europe waits on France to form a government, as the world waits on the US to pick a president, who drives the agenda?In the wake of the January 6th 2021 storming of the US Capitol, the rest of the world thought there is no way Americans would ever again elect Donald Trump. So why – despite all the initial excitement around Kamala Harris, despite charges that include trying to overturn an election – is he still ahead in the polls going into Tuesday’s night’s debate against the vice president?The Democrats have scored points on issues like women’s rights – all the while shifting towards Trump’s views on trade and immigration. How much of a shift? To what degree are self-styled illiberals driving policy in 2024?Here in France, where the president has tapped a Gaullist conservative to try and form a government that’s palatable to a divided new parliament, Trump admirer Marine Le Pen insists that she in no way had a hand in Emmanuel Macron’s pick of Michel Barnier even though the far-right leader has clearly emerged as kingmaker from an inconclusive snap election. Are the illiberals winning the battle of ideas? Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati, Ilayda Habip and Juliette Brown. 

The seven-week wait is over.After France's youngest prime minister of the past century, its oldest. Emmanuel Macron naming Brussels veteran Michel Barnier to try and form a government that can survive a vote of no confidence. The EU's Brexit negotiator will have to muster all of his negotiating savvy: The president's gamble on snap elections delivered the most splintered parliament since the 1958 constitution and by the way, the party of lifelong Gaullist Barnier, finished fifth. That begs the broader question: who has got the legitimacy to govern... and with what mandate after those elections? General de Gaulle set up a Fifth Republic where a powerful president can weigh on policy even when his party's in opposition. How much power does Emmanuel Macron retain now that he has shown his hand and made up his mind? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

First the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov, now the ban on Twitter in Brazil. After years of making outrage and tribalism their business model, are tech titans getting their comeuppance?We will ask about the almighty showdown between the billionaire owner of the social medium now known as X and the chief justice of Brazil’s Supreme Court who has extended the ban to VPN systems that try to flout the ruling. Alexander de Moraes just notched an important win, what with Musk’s Starlink satellite system relenting on initial plans to defy the Twitter ban. There’s the broader question of how to make a digital public square that extends beyond echo chambers without peddling hate and disinformation.Musk’s own timeline is become the bullhorn of a billionaire tycoon who targets taxes and immigrants. Donald Trump’s now promised him a role auditing the US government if the Republican nominee wins in November. In an age where so much wealth is concentrated in the hands of so few, what are the limits to one man’s powers? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

Are the gloves off in Israel? After the October 7th attack by Hamas, the nation put aside bitter differences.But after the killing of six Israeli hostages, cue the biggest protests since last year’s attempted judicial overhaul by Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard right government. Demonstrators accuse a prime minister of piling on the demands to extend a war that has become his ticket to staying in power. Not at all, insists Netanyahu.  He is doubling down over his decision to now prioritize the occupation of the Philadelphi corridor between Gaza and Egypt, while pushing back against growing pressure from allies. He has branded as ‘shameful’ the United Kingdom’s decision to suspend certain arms exports licenses. What is the plan in London and Washington?What is the plan for Netanyahu? Can he lead a divided nation in a war that is also involving the West Bank and the Lebanese border? For all the protests, does he still have the support to keep going? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

Thuringia may represent just two percent of Germany’s population, but the eastern region is hardly an outlier. The far-right finishing first in Sunday’s regional elections while also surging in nearby Saxony. True, the AfD, whose lead candidate Bjorn Hocke was twice fined this year for using Nazi-era slogans at rallies, will not be in government. It is precisely with the Nazis in mind that Germany hard baked moderation and compromise into its federal system. Still, how will these results impact policy both in Berlin and in Brussels?There is another layer of Germany’s past evoked with these elections: the sudden inroads by anti-immigrant left wing populist Sarah Wagenknecht, formerly of the Communist-rooted Die Linke party, plays to a “make East Germany great again” sentiment among voters frustrated by western-looking policy makers. Both her BSW and the AfD denounce military support for Ukraine and enjoy warm relations with Russia, where all the Cold War era nostalgia can only be music to Vladimir Putin’s ears.  Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

At what point does French president have to hand over the reins of power? Business as usual on this last Thursday in August at the Elysee Palace for Emmanuel Macron, meeting the new UK prime minister before jetting off to Serbia for an official visit. Business as usual but it’s been nearly two months since his surprise gamble on snap elections backfired and he’s yet to name a new prime minister.  It is not easy to cast the right head of government when parliament is now split three ways between the far-right, a coalition of the left and those in between. In fact it is unprecedented. In a nation that is not known coalition building since General de Gaulle changed the constitution back in 1958, how to pass an October budget through a splintered house?Through it all, the French still went on summer vacation, the trains still ferried fans to the Olympics and Paralympics and parents and teachers still got ready for next week first day of school. How long can the state of limbo last? When does France start to seem rudderless to the rest of Europe and when does it start to matter? Produced by François Picard, Andrew Hilliar, Ilayda Habip, Meiqi AN

What happens when summer turns to fall?After the slow and steady Russian gains in the Donbas, the surprise Ukranian counter-invasion in Kursk.Now come harrowing nights of bombings. What to expect when fall turns to winter? Consecutive nights of bombings across Ukraine. This time hitting the hometown of Volodymyr Zelensky Krivvy Riv in the center of the country. Meanwhile, Ukraine is sending thousands of troops into Kursk region in what is quickly become the biggest invasion of Russian territory since the Second World War. It started as what seemed like an incursion on the 6th of August. After Russian occupation of the Zaporizhzha nuclear power plant in the opening days of the full scale invasion back in 2022, another atomic facility now in the news. The head of the UN nuclear watchdog this Tuesday is visiting Kurchatov, home to the Kursk nuclear power plant. The frontline's now 40 kilometres away. Who has the upper hand now? Everything can seem frozen until it is not. What will tip the balance in the days, weeks and months ahead? Produced by François Picard, Andrew Hilliar, Juilette Brown, Meiqi AN

Could this mark a turning point for tech titans who reap huge profits for the “anything goes” content served up on their platforms?Free speech absolutists including Elon Musk up in arms over the weekend arrest in Paris of the 39-year old founder of Telegram. How strong a case against the Russian-born Pavel Durov and his encrypted social medium, Telegram that’s popular among dissidents and pro-Putin milibloggers alike.Durov’s detention comes as online hate speech and disinformation continues to spiral as evidenced with the false narrative spun on social media during the UK’s recent far-right riots. Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Guillaume Gougeon, Juliette Brown and Ilayda Habip.

There is a paradox that is often forgotten: the United States’ share of the global economy continues to grow, its tech giants rule the world, its culture reaches the whole planet, even where dictators try to put up firewalls. So is this the best its democracy can do? In these volatile times, citizens in the US have the choice between two aging boomers, one who stands charged with trying to overturn the will of the people through insurrection and yet, who’s leading in the polls.  The other whose fitness for four more years is doubted by many within his own camp. We will ask about Joe Biden’s insistence on staying in the race and why it’s proving so hard to contemplate alternate scenarios. Is it really too late? The last time, millions followed Donald Trump when he made good on his threat to challenge the result if he lost. What further erosion of trust in government? Here in France, snap elections with no clear winner are also testing institutions. Why do politics seem broken on both sides of the Atlantic? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brwn. 

World leaders converging on Washington for a 75th anniversary Nato summit were sold a show of strength hosted by the Alliance’s driving force. But beyond the photo ops, there is a feeding frenzy. The White House swamped by questions over the fitness of a U.S. president who is older by six years than the defense and security pact that in those days bound together nations against the threat of Soviet expansion.  Long before Monday’s bombing of a children’s hospital in Kyiv, NATO leaders already knew they were coming up to decision time: whether to keep helping Ukraine play defense or risk direct confrontation with Moscow by giving Volodymyr Zelenskiy the planes and missiles his country needs to take Vladimir Putin’s war to Russian soil. What should the final communique say?With Biden and the likes of France’s Emmanuel Macron weakened politically, NATO’s 76th year will be crucial, what with isolationist nativists on the march on both sides of the Atlantic.  Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

The optics are startling. Russia bombing a children’s hospital in Kyiv while the leader of the country that holds the rotating presidency of the European Council wrapped up a so-called peace tour that included stops in Moscow and Baku before Beijing. At no point during his Kremlin visit did Hungary’s Viktor Orban denounce Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine nor display an EU flag. Orban who waited until after the French elections to announce that his Fidesz party was joining forces with Marine Le Pen’s National Rally in the next European parliament. Their new voting bloc called Patriots for Europe to be chaired by Le Pen’s lead candidate for French elections, 28-year old Jordan Bardella. Will the National Rally stick to its newfound support for Ukraine? Will the duo supplant Italy’s Giorgia Meloni as the leader of the nationalist right in Europe?After recent European elections, it is the start of a new term in Brussels. The last five years saw a pooling of resources in the fight against Covid, the first-ever mutualisation of debt among the twenty-seven, the Green Deal, the emergence of an embryo of a common European defense. As Orban and others get set to travel to the Nato summit in Washington, what is in store for Europe over the next five years? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

This time, the polls got it wrong. The French stared at the prospect of a far-right win and despite the start of summer vacation voted in their greatest numbers since 1981 to stop that populist surge. Instead, a left-wing alliance cobbled together three weeks ago after Emmanuel Macron’s shock dissolution of parliament boasts the largest bloc.  But it is far, very far from an outright majority. With Marine Le Pen’s National Rally hitting another record high in seats… and the prospect of another snap election in twelve months if parliament’s stuck in three-way gridlock with the center-right, can the French do the unthinkable?Be like the Germans… that is to say, compromise, find creative solutions, build coalitions based on party platforms, not Bonapartist personality contests? Emmanuel Macron promised the snap elections would clarify France’s political landscape. Instead, with power back in the hands of parliament, politicians are going to have to draw the lessons of this tumultuous election cycle… and address the grievances of an electorate that wants change. Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

The ink on the campaign posters barely had time to dry. Yet, France’s frenzied snap legislative election races are nearly over. President Macron hoped to clear the air with his shock dissolution of parliament but after the far-right’s unprecedented surge and so many unholy alliances and tactical withdrawals ahead of the runoffs, good luck predicting the makeup of the next National Assembly.  One certainty, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally will boast the most seats. But how many? How close or how far from an outright majority? After the highest turnout in decades in the first round, what will voters think of their options come Sunday? And who do they want to govern France?Yes, the ballots will have been counted but the horse-trading will be far from over. Can a nation that historically prefers Bonapartist figureheads to Nordic-style policy compromises try its hand at grand coalitions or technocratic arbiters? Or should we brace ourselves for a whole new level of uncertainty? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

While French voters ponder the temptation of the far-right, across the Channel they are also campaigning, only there it feels like revenge of the moderates. Out with Little Britain Brexiteers, out with Jeremy Corbyn’s hard left. In with a more genteel version of the Labour Party. Before 2016, Britain always seemed like that isle of temperance where sure, the tabloid headlines screamed but that was only a bit of fun to sell newspapers.  So what next for Brexit Britain… and the Tories which have become the party of Rwanda deportation schemes for asylum seekers? Does it too swing back to the center or double down?If he wins by a predicted landslide, Labour leader Keir Starmer will have managed to capture the silent majority that’s not radical. But for how long? With a platform that is light on specifics, he knows he can not be all things to all people for long.  Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

A sitting president who goes for it without reading the room. We could be talking about Emmanuel Macron’s shock dissolution of parliament that this coming Sunday could now usher in France’s first far-right government since Nazi occupation, or we could be talking about a floundering Joe Biden who at eighty-one broke his campaign promise to only seek one term in office and who turned in a disastrously weak performance in last Thursday’s debate. Will Biden persist? What is preventing Donald Trump from returning to power through the ballot box in November? More broadly, why are voters in 2024 ready to forgive or condone what happened in 2021? With Covid, the climate emergency, superpower tensions with China and Russia, western thinkers thought voters wanted to revert back to a strengthening of institutions and alliances.Instead, familiar nativist figures who had been written off have come roaring back. Why? And what is stopping them? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

Turns out the polls did get it right. One in three voters chose the far-right in Sunday’s first round of French snap legislative elections, putting Marine Le Pen’s party on the brink of power, an unprecedented score for an extreme that’s never before won in France through the ballot box. With one short week before the run-off, we will ask why… and what it will take for rivals to coalesce. Politics indeed makes strange bedfellows. With a 577-seat National Assembly, we will ask just how hard it will be for old rivals to hold their noses and vote for each other in the more than 400 runoffs where the far-right has a chance.More broadly, what has changed in the two short years since the last parliament got voted in in the wake of Emmanuel Macron’s re-election and what consequences will his decision to dissolve said parliament have on France, Europe and beyond? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

Don't blink or you'll have missed the shortest electoral campaign of France’s Fifth Republic…Will nineteen days of canvassing have moved the needle since Emmanuel Macron’s surprise dissolution of parliament on the night of European elections? Not according to polls. They suggest that the president may regret getting what he wished for with his decision to clear the air. The far-right’s never been closer to power since the Nazi collaborator regime of Vichy. Reminder, that an even shorter sprint starts Sunday night at 8 pm when the polls close: France’s legislative elections are actually 577 individual races that feature a second round the following week. What alliances? What chances of an outright majority for Marine Le Pen’s National Rally?What message do citizens of the European Union’s second largest economy really want to send for a national contest… with worldwide consequences? Produced by Siobhan Silke, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

Many who read the polls might say 2024 seems like the year of living dangerously.No arguing who hass got the momentum only four days out from snap legislative elections here in France... and on the eve of the first candidate’s debate in the United States. French voters can argue that they have tried all the others so why not the far-right… or that Marine Le Pen’s party will be less Eurosceptic once confronted with the hard reality of governing. Kind of like what has happened in Italy.But then how to explain Donald Trump’s brand of politics? He is not untested. On his watch, supporters tried to overturn the former US president’s electoral defeat by force on January 6th, 2021. Why does he have the momentum?Emmanuel Macron’s been blasted for gambling away his relative majority on a snap election that does not give citizens enough time to reflect. Americans will have had four long years to reflect. In both cases, are the one-third of voters solidly behind illiberal parties bigger risk takers than Macron or do they feel that they have nothing to lose? Produced By Aline Bottin, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

If you have got the aging Supreme Leader urging citizens to get out and vote, you can only guess that what is really at stake is turnout. We will ask if there is more than meets the eye to a heavily-vetted presidential contest precipitated by last month’s death of Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash. To stop the sliding abstention rate, this time organizers allowed what is billed as a reformist to stand alongside five hardliners. They include regime heavyweights who - in the land that invented chess - each has his own agenda and strategy.So what kind of a snapshot will Friday’s vote offer for an under-sanctions regime that’s for now put a lid on the «women, life, freedom» protests of 2022 and cozied up to sometimes rival Russia? How far does the showdown gowith an Israel whose leadership wants to dial up the fighting with proxy militia Hezbollah in Lebanon, and a United States that is - at least until that other election in November - trying to keep a lid on it all? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Elena Colonna, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

In the blink of an eye, France is already into the final days of campaigning, a speed dating exercise that has got the far-right’s more than ever knocking on the doors of power. Polls suggest that Emmanuel Macron’s surprise decision to dissolve parliament just two weeks ago has not sparked a rethink. On the contrary, Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella continue to carry the momentum from the record tally of European elections earlier this month. In fact, a full one-quarter of voters told an Ipsos poll for the Financial Times that they trust the National Rally more on the economy than Macron’s centrists or the left-wing alliance. Other than an unconstitutional pledge to reduce benefits and public services for immigrants, the party that once spooked voters with its now defunct call to leave the euro still remains fuzzy on how it’ll pay for all its campaign promises. So why the leap of faith?Under Macron, unemployment’s down, foreign investment’s up but a soaring cost of living has stoked genuine fear that middle class families could slide into poverty. Put the far-right’s great replacement theory to one side. For these citizens, it feels like a great demotion. Who is best to address their genuine concerns? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Aline Bottin, Elena Colonna, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

You know you have got a reclusive regime when an outside world hungry for clues salivates at the prospect of a visit by Vladimir Putin.He is only the second Russian president to visit North Korea. The first - 24 years ago - was also Vladimir Putin.  We will ask our panel what they’ve parsed from reviews of honor guards, official communiques and hagiographic state media coverage. More broadly, do these images project strength or weakness?Will Putin get the mortar shells and missiles he needs for his war in Ukraine? Will Kim Jong-Un get the sanctions-busting link to the outside world Pyongyang needs to ease some of its dependence on that other neighbor, China?And what about the spiking tensions with Pacific rivals starting with South Korea. We will ask about warning shots again this week across the 38th parallel and ballistic missile tests in the Pacific that have the South Koreans drawing closer to old rivals Japan. We focus a lot on Taiwan, but what about the Korean Peninsula? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Louise Guibert. 

No ceasefire in Gaza since November. And just as it is subsiding a little, fears are growing over Lebanon. We will ask with the latest border incidents whether initial fears of all-out war between Israel and Hezbollah could still prove true. In hindsight, Iran's first-ever direct missile attacks on Israel back in April seemed like a symbolic gesture so far, but it has got Benjamin Netanyahu's top brass' attention. The same top brass that’s at loggerheads with the PM over the lack of an exit strategy in Gaza, the prime minister who has managed to steady his political ship despite foreign and domestic pressure to resign to the point where he can do without the opposition in a unity war cabinet and by dissolving said cabinet, stare down his own far-right coalition partners. But for how long? And how long can the rest of the world feel the spillover? Take France, where eight months of war have strained political alliances to the point where divisions could prove a factor in crucial snap legislative elections where every vote counts. Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Melissa Kalaydjian

To Americans who complain that their election campaigns drag on for far too long, welcome to France where it is indeed a sprint, not a marathon.  Here, politicians have twelve short days to convince in snap legislative elections that could redraw France – and Europe’s – political landscape: to think it has only been a week since a far-right surge in European elections sparked Emmanuel Macron’s shock decision to dissolve parliament. With the country split in three between a hastily-concluded alliance of the left, the center-right under Macron, and Marine Le Pen’s National Rally… we will ask which way the pendulum is about to swing… and whether calls for a Republican front against the far-right still resonate, even when they come from stars of the national football squad.France’s president has been roundly criticized for taking too great a leap into the unknown with his “clear the air” strategy of sending citizens back to the polls. The question now is whether voters too are willing to take a gamble and flirt with a rollback of the republic’s universal values?   Produced By Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

What are summits about anyway? Most of the time, minions and sherpas have long agreed before on policy points before the red carpet has even been rolled out. Arguably most important in a summit, the photo ops, a chance for politicians to show they are at the helm, helping to rule the world in a spirit of cooperation. So what does this lot rule over? Dateline the Puglia resort of Borgo Egnazia on Italy’s Adriatic coast.  See the radiant host Giorgia Meloni, the far-right leader who in her country finished tops in last Sunday’s European elections. Watch all the other G-7 leaders. How forced are the smiles for more mainstream incumbents? They’re either reeling from last Sunday, looking over their shoulder as they prepare to face electoral verdicts to come, or in some cases, both.France’s Emmanuel Macron did so badly against the far-right that he has called snap legislative elections. Does this summit mark the dying days of a certain kind of western world order? That brings us to the other reason why summits matter, sidebar talks. Liberal democracy is not on the official agenda so what notes will those weakened incumbents trade on the quiet as they do battle with a populist surge? Produced by Maya Yataghene, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

For Ukraine, let’s start with the good news. Long-range weapons from the West have finally arrived, more on the way, and the Russian offensive of the past month seems to be stalling. Now the not-so good news. As Volodymyr Zelenskiy lobbies a repair and reconstruction conference in Berlin, his country might be on borrowed time. We will ask about plans to sell state assets to pay for the war and Western backers looking over their shoulders after Sunday’s European elections. The far-right, whose leader still owes money to Russia for a 2017 campaign loan, did so well in France that the president triggered snap legislative elections. Fears that supporting Ukraine could lead to World War Three resonate with Marine Le Pen’s voters and the far-left. That is the mood music that takes Zelenskiy from Berlin to Thursday’s G-Seven summit to the one he is organized next week in Switzerland to try and rally support for a long term plan. What is at stake in the days ahead? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

When Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th, everyone knew war would follow, but for eight long months in one of the world’s most densely populated places? Will the latest hopes of a truce once again be dashed? Critics contend that for leaders on both sides, managing a war is easier than ending it. After all, they then run the risk of being held to account. Yet, this time, could outside pressure finally bear fruits? What is new? The opposition quitting Israel’s war cabinet. That gives Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right coalition free rein, but also full responsibility.There is also the UN Security Council which doesn't agree on anything these days agreeing on a U.S. ceasefire resolution. Can Netanyahu stick to his guns and can Hamas continue to hold innocent hostages in urban areas with no regard to the dangers exposed on innocent civilians all around? More broadly, how to finally get a deal over the line? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

First came the exit polls. Then, less than an hour later: a second shock. On the heels of the French far-right’s record score in European elections, Emmanuel Macron dissolving parliament and calling surprise snap elections. Since losing his outright majority after his re-election as president in 2022, Macron had instead muddled through with a mix of compromises and executive decrees. Now suddenly comes a lightning fast three-week campaign before a June 30th first round. Just how risky a gamble?Can Marine Le Pen’s party ride the wave and win an outright majority? It is a tall order in a country where a two-round system of voting safeguards against the extremes,but then again, who thought her National Rally party could win eighty-nine seats the last time?We will ask why a growing number of women and young people turned to her and how much France’s return to the polls will resonate beyond its borders. What impact on Europe and beyond? Which way will the pendulum swing? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

D-Day is being commemorated, this June 6th marks the 80th anniversary of what became known as The Longest Day.For the soldiers and for French civilians killed as part of the collateral damage of the liberation of their country, there is is a complex legacy of one of the most compelling stories of military history.  This Debate will salute those who suffered, who made the ultimate sacrifice, who were tragic victims of the decisions taken in times of war. We will also examine why we are were we are right now: in a world still gripped by conflict. Some say, on the brink of World War Three.  Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

Welcome to the France 24 Debate. Fake news, bogus websites, deep fake interviews augmented by AI... we have all, often without our knowledge, fallen foul of this kind of manipulation.  And most of it is coming from Russia. Tonight, with our panel, we will explore the how, and why, behind this.And, hopefully, provide you with some ways to be more aware of what you are being exposed to, online, especially. Produced By Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

Welcome to the France 24 Debate. Tonight we are focusing on the elections on India where Prime Minister Narendra Modi is already claiming victory. A historic third successive term. Counting continues, but not that he is bothered.Modi has been criticised throughout the election campaign for abusing state press and broadcast media - essentially using them as the mouthpiece for his campaign. There was also the case of the jailed opposition figures, the alleged suppression of the Muslim vote. When first elected in 2014 Modi's central mantra was Identity is Nationality not Religion. Modi enters - perhaps - a third successive term with his BJP Party firmly tethered to a political course called Hindu Nationalism. Minorities? Muslims, Christians, a Sikh separatist is elected from his jail cell. All have reasons not to be optimistic about what's to come with Modi's 3rd Term. Our panel will be assessing the election and throwing forward to where Modi could take India next. Foreign policy issues: Pakistan, Kashmir, China, Russia, Ukraine. Where will India stand?  Produced By Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

What if the far-right gets its act together? Europeans pick a parliament this week, the first since the EU's significance went to the next level with Covid, the war in Ukraine as well as showdowns over Chinese dumping and US tech. Europe matters more than before yet for the first time in a quarter century, the status quo is in play. Why? One woman is at the heart of it all, Giorgia Meloni. Italy's prime minister has proven to be a team player to mainstream partners at the EU level while harking back to her far-right roots on the current campaign trail. Could she tack center-right as she claims to be or strike a deal with the likes of Marine Le Pen, whose National Rally pollsters could smash its record high here in France.Even if nationalist and far-right voting blocs remain splintered in the next parliament what impact on policy if the center-left fades? Will nascent efforts for a common European defense die a quick death? Will the EU’s Green Deal and the move away from fossil fuels run out of gas? What migration policy? More broadly, as another campaign unfolds in the US, how strong is nativist sentiment here in Europe? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

Can Israel ignore the pressure?Young people outraged by the graphic images of the Rafah tent fire that killed dozens of civilians out in the streets of Paris and Marseille, this as Ireland, Norway and Spain recognize a Palestinian state and international courts mount cases over the war in Gaza.  A war that could last another seven months, says a top official in Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. Fact is, Israeli citizens are also traumatized by October 7th and its aftermath but not seeing the same images as the rest of the world on their social media feeds. Then there’s Israel’s biggest backer, with a Biden administration that so far refuses to say that Israel’s operation in Rafah crosses its red lines and a Republican opposition that is 100-percent behind Netanyahu. In past Middle East wars, it is often the US that has been the one to call time. Why after nearly eight months, is this time different? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

What is Europe's next move... what with Kharkiv is subjected to a daily pounding from the other side of a Russian border that is just 20 kilometres away? It is in the name of Kharkiv that Emmanuel Macron on a state visit to Germany, with chancellor Scholz nodding in agreement, said he would allow French missiles supplied to Ukraine to, as he put it, “neutralise” military targets on Russian soil. That comes on top of talk of French military advisors sent to the front line. Vladimir Putin quick to react Tuesday with threats against the West as a whole and what sounds like the Baltic states in particular. With Russian troops now on the offensive and Ukraine desperately waiting for supplies of not just missiles but also ammunition and eventually fighter jets…how close is the day when Nato and Russian troops square off on the battlefield? Eleven days out from European elections, how does public opinion feel about it?And what of Nato’s biggest member? The United States, which for now refuses to allow its weaponry to strike inside Russian territory. Can the Alliance speak with one voice at this crucial juncture? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Louise Guibert.

What if this time, the ANC does not win? Since 1994, South Africa’s known plenty of ups and downs but the party of Nelson Mandela – no matter the criticism or defections - could bank, come election time, on a winning machine that has always secured an outright majority. What if it’s not the case? And why? We will ask about a sluggish economy, huge inequality, corruption and whether this time incumbent fatigue will finally catch up with the African National Congress. How will those born after the fall of Apartheid vote? How do they see a country long touted as the Rainbow nation?Would a weakened ANC signal a new narrative for what remains a regional and continental powerhouse? The opposition includes those who tout black nationalism instead of diversity. In nation that’s still got a vibrant press and an independent judiciary, will the election outcome strengthen or weaken institutions?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

How to stop the slide in the Americas’ poorest nation? The last time this show put the spotlight on Haiti was nearly three months ago. The capital had been overrun by gangs who’d banded together against prime minister Ariel Henry who had just secured a deal to deploy a Kenyan-led international police force. With the presidency vacant since the 2021 assassination of Jovenel Moise, the unelected Henry has since handed over power to a collegial Transitional National Council but the gangs have extended their chokehold on Haiti and the deployment of police remains on hold.Coming up, our exclusive report into how the Caribbean state is coping and how to bring back law and order – sometimes block by block - to a capital that is estimated to be 80-percent controlled by armed groups and avoid the failures of past international missions there. Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

He is literally gone halfway around the world. Now what can Emmanuel Macron do with his surprise visit to New Caledonia?Critics see deadly riots in the French Pacific island as a crisis of his government’s own making, with an electoral reform that indigenous Kanaks say dilutes their voice in upcoming provincial elections. Sovereignists loyal to Paris point to longstanding residents who do not have the right to vote. The last time New Caledonia witnessed this kind of eruption was the 1980s. Then too, it was electoral reform that lit the spark. It ended with a carefully-worded deal that granted a special status to an overseas collectivity which the United Nations still lists to this day as an occupied colony.We will ask what it means in the 21st Century to fly a French flag in a land that’s more than 17-thousand kilometres from Paris. Remember, the majority like it that way. And how strategic is a South Pacific that’s in Australia’s backyard, patrolled by the United States and coveted by China? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz. 

Is it about justice or politics? In the same breath, the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court requesting arrest warrants against Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas’ Yahya Sinwar. We will ask about the alleged war crimes, the measure and equation and the sharp reactions with a U.S. president who brands as "outrageous" the accusations against prime minister Netanyahu and his defense chief Yoav Gallant, the likes of the UK, Italy and Germany who bemoan quote “the inaccurate impression of an equivalence” between both sides.France is among those which leaves the matter to the judges of the ICC, an international court with jurisdiction in 124 nations. The ICC’s indicted sitting leaders before, but never a democratically elected one.What impact on Israel’s reputation? On its politics? And will these charges alleviate the suffering in Gaza? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

Iran has regime just lost a safe pair of hands. Yes, another hardliner’s sure to replace Ebrahim Raisi – known to detractors as the butcher of Tehran for the thousands of dissidents he sent to the gallows as a state prosecutor – but the president’s sudden death in a helicopter crash may still change the equation… … not so much for a presidential election slated by the constitution in fifty days time but in the behind-the-scenes jockeying to pick a successor to Ali Khameinei, Iran’s supreme leader who is eighty-five and frail. Raisi – himself a cleric – had been tipped as a possible replacement.We will ask about the crash and the challenges ahead.Then there are Iran’s eighty-eight million citizens. Will they get involved? Since Raisi was elected in 2021, the regime’s stared down the massive “women, life, freedom” protests but lost a great measure of its legitimacy. With pragmatists and moderates sidelined, recent legislative elections were marked by record low turnout. Do decision makers open the door to dissenting views or double down? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

Something so unprecedented that no Slovak, no European even fathomed it: an assassination attempt against a sitting prime minister. Now hindsight is 20/20: after the fact, it’s easy to point to a climate of verbal violence. We’ll ask about a populist prime minister who just recently returned to power in a tight race and the unprecedented polarisation in Robert Fico’s country. When UK member of parliament Jo Cox was assassinated by a deranged constituent during the 2016 Brexit campaign, that too seemed like a black swan moment. Isolated cases or part of a broader trend?And who stands to benefit from this heinous crime? Slovakia’s government has asked senior leaders in its own ranks to tone down accusations that the opposition and the media are to blame. More broadly, as the whole continent gets set to vote in EU elections, how much fear and loathing on this campaign trail?Produced by Alessandr Xenos, Guillaume Gougeon and Imen Mellaz.

From the nation that launched the so-called colored revolutions comes another showdown… Georgia’s parliament shrugging off some of the biggest protests in its post-Soviet history and approving a foreign agents bill that mirrors legislation in neighboring Russia, a way argues the opposition to curb media freedom and dissent in a South Caucuses country that only recently graduated to EU candidate status.  Is Tbilisi now returning to Russia’s orbit… or did that already happen when the Georgia Dream party of billionaire oligarch Bidzina Ivanishvili won a supermajority in 2020? That supermajority slated to override a presidential veto on what the opposition calls the Russian Law. Then what? Ahead of elections in the fall, we’ll ask what lessons for other former Soviet states like Armenia, Kazakhstan and of course Ukraine - which just ten years ago was still evenly split between pro-Moscow and pro-E-U citizens.Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Guillaume Gougeon and Imen Mellaz. 

It’s that place where once a year, high art and hustlers rub elbows, a place for icon worshipers and insurgents, old legends and young upstarts…Welcome to the French Riviera resort of Cannes and the 77th film festival that bears its name… the first one since French actress and director Judith Godrèche went back on her personal story – her filmmaker's mistress at age 14 – and sparked a MeToo reckoning in French cinema.  Cannes’ not always been ahead of the curve. This year though, it’s premiering Godrèche’s short film about sexual violence and organizers picked as jury president Greta Gerwig, director of the smash feminist hit Barbie. How in synch with the times can a festival… and an industry be?We’ll raise the curtain on a Cannes that’s always in search of the right balance between the socially relevant and good old fashion star power… a festival that will showcase the new film by Mohammad Rasoulof who had to flee Iran to present his new feature and what may be the last hurrah at 85 for two-time Golden Palm winner Francis Ford Coppola. What will this year’s festival say about the state of movies and the state of our world?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Guillaume Gougeon and Imen Mellaz. 

Moscow reopening a new front with the taking of villages near Kharkiv. Could fresh ammo and military hardware pledged by NATO allies arrive too late?Moscow’s spring offensive taking form as Vladimir Putin replaces defense minister Sergei Shoigu with another Kremlin loyalist… Andrei Belousov, the deputy prime minister in charge of the economy.Why the reshuffle? In a nation that’s fully embraced the transition to a war economy, what prospects as Russia’s president embarks on a fifth term…  … and what prospects for an outmanned and outgunned Ukraine which for the sake of its own survival can neither afford to keep fighting nor to embrace peace on Putin’s terms. Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Guillaume Gougeon and Imen Mellaz.

Kind of a common thread to our show this week: after the massive party in Marseille to welcome the arrival of the Olympic flame, time to turn our gaze north for what’s also billed as another « it’s a small world after all » feelgood celebration. Come in Malmö, host of the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, that heart-shaped ode to kitsch where pop contestants do battle with tremolos, glitter and kicks. But just as politics bleeds into sports, it bleeds into music.  Security tight around the venue in southern Sweden amid calls by some to bar Israel’s contestant. While the ban on Russia after its invasion two years ago was for the most part consensual, this call’s tearing apart aficionados. By the way…It’s not just when the voting’s by country: when do rock anthems become national anthems? Just how important is music for propaganda and resistance? And are today’s artists any more or less voices for activism than their predecessors? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

Paris hosts the Olympic Games this summer, but it's in a city founded by the ancient Greeks that it all begins. The Olympic flame has arrived in the Mediterranean port of Marseille, the start of a long journey to the July 26 opening ceremony. What's it all about? After all, the torch relay hasn't always been part of the pageantry. Organisers insist it's not political, but also boast of the values they purvey.  What are those values? Does it resonate, for instance, when the leader of the last host nation China and the next host nation France call for an Olympic truce during the Games?What does a global spectacle like this one mean post-pandemic and in the midst of so many conflicts and fractures across the planet? To what extent will Paris 2024 mirror the triumphs and challenges of our present day?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

They say it's darkest before the dawn. Let's hope that's true, because Gaza's definitely in the dark this Tuesday. Israeli tanks are cutting off the Egyptian border crossing in the southernmost city of Rafah as the coalition war cabinet rejects what Hamas brands as acceptance of a truce deal, instead reading it as an underwhelming counteroffer. Is this the start of the all-out ground offensive that US mediators, among others, fear will lead to a new level of humanitarian disaster? It’s been an up-and-down 24 hours for Gaza residents, who initially thought a first ceasefire since November was finally at hand, thus sparing Rafah. But perhaps it's when it all comes to a head that the real bargaining begins. What do Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar really want? What's in their interest at this point? And how much pressure can the outside world bring to end a nightmare that’s exactly seven months old and counting?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

Can you still send strong messages when you've rolled out the red carpet and chilled the champagne for a state dinner? China's Xi Jinping is being feted in the French capital for his first visit to Europe since 2019, despite trade tensions, spy scandals and insistence that he isolate Vladimir Putin over Russia's invasion of Ukraine. How much has changed since one year ago, when Emmanuel Macron was accused of lax messaging on human rights and Taiwan when he travelled to Beijing? The last time that Macron hosted Xi, he invited then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel to join the talks alongside the European Commission president. This time, Ursula von der Leyen is in Paris, but not Olaf Scholz. We ask why and whether that strengthens or weakens the bargaining position of France and the EU.There are also the messages that Xi wants to convey, particularly with his itinerary: after France, the Chinese president travels to Hungary, whose lenient stance towards Beijing is being rewarded with an electric vehicle factory; and Serbia, for the 25th anniversary of NATO's mistaken bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the war in Kosovo. Is it all part of the hard bargaining or a signal that China is ready to take on all comers?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

How did an argument in Khartoum between two rival generals drag Sudan into civil war and push it to the brink of a repeat of the Darfur genocide of two decades ago? It has not happened yet, but the stage is certainly set in El Fasher, the west's only city still in the hands of junta leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan but besieged by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) of Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo – aka Hemedti. Hemedti's RSF is the offshoot of the Arab Janjaweed militias that two decades ago slaughtered upwards of 200,000 Masalit, Fur and Zaghawa civilians. After 2005, there were mea culpas and pledges to never again to allow a repeat of the 21st century’s first genocide.Fast forward to 2024 and the international community has a chance to do just that. And yet, its gaze is elsewhere.Why? And why, after a year of fighting, is there no end in sight for the people of Sudan?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. Watch moreSudan, a forgotten crisis the world must pay attention to

Concerns over "too much screen time" for youngsters are nothing new. In pre-internet days, young people sometimes saw their TV viewing curtailed as a punishment. But it's now been three decades since mobile phones went mainstream, and nearly two since the advent of the tablet and the smartphone. Many teachers and psychiatrists link long hours of scrolling and exposure to violent and pornographic images, as well as cyberbullying, anxiety and sleep deprivation among a generation whose attention span has shrunk. We ask about a panel that has just submitted recommendations to France's president, starting with a ban on smartphones for under-13s. What's the right measure in our connected world? What responsibility for parents, teachers and the tech giants whose entire business model rests on keeping us on our screens as long as possible? Can curbs really be enforced? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

For the first time since November, could there finally be a respite in Gaza? As warring parties and negotatiors shuttle through Cairo, we try to see through the smokescreens and the mixed messages if the stars are truly aligning. Beyond a swap of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, it's tough at face value to comprehend indirect talks between two sides whose official line is the elimination of the other. The US Secretary of State has hinted at a grand bargain from which a truce graduates into a full-blown rewrite of 75 years of Israeli-Palestinian relations. The first step would be a ceasefire. And as interested third parties like the US and Egypt feel the pressure over a war that's in its seventh month, what do they need to do to help get a deal over the line?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Guillaume Gougeon and Imen Mellaz.

The expression went viral in the 1960s: generation gap. Those in power had fought in World War II and were shocked to see college students in the US rebel against the call to serve their country and go to war. How much has the current movement on college campuses exposed a new generation gap? Will the consequences be as far-reaching? For the first time since the Vietnam War, Columbia University invited in police to break up a pro-Palestinian encampment. That has since sparked sit-in protests across the US. We ask about their calls for a ceasefire and for some, a boycott of Israel like the 1980s movement to divest from apartheid-era South Africa. Will a seemingly endless war in Gaza wind up tearing the American left apart in the way the Vietnam War did?And what about this side of the Atlantic? Students here, too, are divided. Many here also perceive Israel not as David but as Goliath. How to address the legitimate fears felt by both Jews and Muslims that the eruption in the Middle East will only lead to a blurring of lines and unbridled intolerance that goes mainstream?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

In 2017, France’s new president went to Paris's Sorbonne University to defend Europe’s strategic autonomy. Since then, there's been Covid and Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Now, ahead of June's EU elections, Emmanuel Macron was back with an update.  "Everything that is strategic in our world, we have delegated. Our energy, to Russia; Our security – for several of our partners; not France, but several others – to the United States. And other critical interests, also, to China. We must take them back. This is what strategic autonomy is about," he declared.So how has Europe met those challenges so far? What to make of Macron's call for an acceleration of a common defence and industrial policy and his claim that energy transition is compatible with growth and the polls? After all, this was a campaign speech, what with Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally ahead with nearly one-third of voter intentions, double those of Macron’s centrists.Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

Is it a spiraling superpower showdown or a glorified trade negotiation? The US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is kicking off a three-day visit in China’s economic capital, Shanghai. Unlike during the Cold War, when exchanges between the blocs were anecdotal, today it's the world's two biggest powers at the table – powers whose biggest trading partners happen to be each other.  When Washington and Beijing face off over China flooding world markets with subsidised solar panels and electric car batteries, it certainly sounds like bartering over big bucks. But there's also competing political models at stake.Blinken's visit comes hours after the US Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation to possibly force the sale of TikTok by China. The addictive video-sharing site's business model – like that of its competitors – relies on vacuuming up its users' personal habits, beliefs and tastes. Beyond the more conventional standoff over fresh military aid to semiconductor-producing Taiwan, how to define this battle over who controls the digital age? How far should the West go?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

Ecuador's new president is on a winning streak, with the recapture of the alleged leader of the Los Lobos gang coming hot on the heels of a referendum giving Daniel Noboa a mandate to get tougher on drug cartels.  Back in January, the world was shocked to see a once-peaceful Andean nation overrun by massive prison breaks in several cities, with the escape of "Capitan Pico" and the brief overtaking of a television station by gang members. Is Ecuador in danger of becoming a failed state like Haiti? Will it go for mass incarceration like El Salvador?We connect the dots between the turmoil an ocean away from our Paris studios and a drug trade that's in flux, with demand for cocaine falling in the US and traffickers in the Americas eyeing Europe as a choice destination. What's the best way to tackle this global problem?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

Will it be enough to dissipate doubt over Ukraine's ability to hold out in a war of attrition with Russia? After months of delay, the US House of Representatives finally approved a 60-billion-dollar military aid package for Kyiv. Overruling the objections of Republican hardliners, Speaker Mike Johnson praised lawmakers who came together to "answer history's call". That said, he also conferred first with Donald Trump. So, with US elections ahead… … did the momentum just swing against Russia… or did we witness a one-off compromise that only pushes back the day when the Western-backed war effort runs out of steam? If US support is so vital, it's because Europe has also been slow to boost promised deliveries of ammunition and air defense systems.Last year, Europe's share of NATO spending rose to its highest level in a decade – what will 2024 have in store? Beyond just Ukraine, what will the arms race sparked by Vladimir Putin’s bid for Kyiv have on the planet as a whole?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Guillaume Gougeon and Imen Mellaz.

A world record 969 million citizens called to the polls for what some see as a referendum about one man.India’s about to embark on the world’s biggest election, staggered over seven weeks with Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist BJP favored to stretch its solid lead in parliament. Modi’s been pointing to a decade of unprecedented growth and power for a nation courted by the West and beyond. The opposition warns of growing inequality and democratic backsliding. Court cases deemed political dog its leader Rahul Gandhi as well the popular chief minister of Delhi, who’s currently in jail for alleged ties to a corruption case.So as India moves from the country to the city, as the literacy rate rises, what kind of a democracy is it? And what does the majority of its 1-point-4 billion people want?Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Guillaume Gougeon and Imen Mellaz.

Ukrainians wonder if there's a double standard. An international community that comes together to fend off Iran's attack on Israel can't increase its air defence commitments in time to defend against Russian air strikes like the one that took out the Trypilska thermal power station last week. We ask if Volodymyr Zelensky is right, and whether EU leaders gathered at a summit in Brussels need to treat Iran and Russia as one common foe, particularly given how close the pair have drawn in the past two years. On that score, how seriously should we take talk of new sanctions against regimes that have long mastered the art of avoiding them?Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Guillaume Gougeon and Imen Mellaz.

Did it finish with Saturday night or will it spiral further out of control? Already, Iran’s first-ever direct attack against Israel has sent the whole region into uncharted territory. We’ll ask about the measure of its response to Israel’s targeting of Tehran’s embassy compound in Syria.Whether the proportionality shows Iran’s strength or weakness and whether Israel’s prime minister will heed the call of G-Seven allies to leave it there and to move towards an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Israelis say the common challenge posed by Iran offers an opportunity to shore up strained ties with an Arab world that’s frozen all rapprochement since the war in Gaza. The problem is that the ball’s in the court of a Benjamin Netanyahu whose political survival for now hinges on a long war. Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Guillaume Gougeon and Imen Mellaz.

Roll out the red carpet for Japan. Prime minister Fumio Kishida feted with a speech before a joint session of Congress and a White House state dinner. Key to the courtship is Tokyo’s ramped-up role in policing the Pacific. Like the Germans in Europe, the Japanese have had to shed post-war pacifism that’s even embedded in their constitution. It’s with an eye to China, North Korea and Russia that they’ve drawn closer to South Korea and supported Ukraine.  Enter another former World War Two foe the Philippines whose new president’s invited this Thursday for an unprecedented three-way summit. Their common cause is territorial disputes in the South China Sea and a rivalry with Beijing that continues to intensify. What does Ferdinand Marcos Junior and the nationalist Kishida have in common? How strong an alliance? Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

It is not only in the U-S and UK that border protection’s on the ballot. Yes, the European Parliament vote on a migration pact was always going to be a nail biter, especially two months out from EU elections. We will ask about the result and about burden sharing, this as the numbers of those crossing the Mediterranean hit their highest since 2015.  Too much or too little? What goes for migration policy goes for the EU as a whole: after all, protecting so-called fortress Europe is Brussels’ prerogative while immigration policy - deciding what foreign labor’s needed for an aging continent - that is up to member states. What is the way forward? Produced by Andrew Hilliar, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

“To choose not to choose is still to act.” Those the words of French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre. Judges at Europe’s highest jurisdiction agree. Their non-binding ruling against Switzerland over its failure to formulate a concrete climate action plan resonating as scientists confirm that the planet's coming off the hottest month of March on record.  We will ask about the case, the two others thrown out on technicalities, and that pressing arbitration that governments must make between the urgent and the important.The urgent is saving livelihoods – like those of say farmers and small homeowners if they have to front the cost of new environmental norms. The important is reducing carbon emissions that are accelerating global warming. In the run-up to European elections, politicians have prioritized pocketbooks, backtracking on previous pledges in what some see as a populist backlash against the EU’s green deal. So, beyond electoral cycles and symbolic rulings, where is the path to consensus and the safeguarding of our chidren’s future? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Guillaume Gougeon.

After six months, proof that Israel’s longest war since the 1980s is winding down or is the weekend announcement of troops withdrawing from southern Gaza the calm before a whole new storm? Prime Minister Netanyahu insists his forces will make a move for the southernmost city of Rafah and this despite strong objections from the United States which is now pressing for a ceasefire and a ramping up of desperately needed humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians.Last week’s killing of seven aid workers gave the international community a startling insight into all that’s gone wrong with Israel’s Gaza strategy. And while indirect truce negotiations continue at a low simmer, Netanyahu continues to promise the total eradication of Hamas.So what is to stop there being another six months of war? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Guillaume Gougeon.

How to prevent a genocide ?Rwanda’s marking 30 years since the slaughter of an estimated 800-thousand Tutsis and moderate Hutus… 100 days during which a stunned international community watched from the sidelines. On that score, France's president is slated to recognize the international community's failure to prevent the genocide. What can the world do when it sees the red flags of hate turn to annihilation? How to prevent the dehumanization that can lead to horror?  Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

Originally, it was supposed to be a NATO foreign ministers’ meeting to plan a birthday party. But at 75, the same Alliance that just a few years ago wondered whether it had outlived its purpose, now has to instead figure out how to quickly take on more responsibility. Up to now, the United States ran traffic for arming Ukraine. But the eventuality of a return of Donald Trump has members - including the current administration in Washington - preferring that NATO hq safeguard that remit.  We will ask about plans to Trump-proof the military alliance in the face of a Russia that’s expected to go on the offensive in Ukraine. On that score, we will ask about Kyiv’s battle plan, its lowering of conscription age from 27 to 25… and what a long war means for the whole of Europe. Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

Israel is certainly taking on all comers.Monday’s air strike in Damascus that killed three senior Iranian commanders the most spectacular of its kind since Hamas’ October 7th attack. We will ask about Tehran’s response, whether it will try to draw in the United States, and after months of cross-border rocket exchanges between Israel and Lebanon about the risk of all-out war on a second front. Meanwhile, the nightmare continues for Gaza. Will the killing of seven aid workers and the beginnings of a famine force Israel to wind down operations there? Last week, its closest ally the United States abstained on a UN ceasefire resolution, thus sending its strongest signal yet that it is time to wind down what’ll soon be six months of war. So far, that is not happening. Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

After more than two decades of uninterrupted rule, is the tide turning in Turkey? President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threw all the weight of his AKP party behind a bid to unseat Istanbul's charismatic mayor Ekrem Imamoglu. Instead, the possible presidential contender extended his gains in Sunday's local elections. Despite the media and courts being stacked against Turkey's opposition, the ruling party has lost the country's five biggest cities.Erdogan conceded on the night, hinting that heads might roll inside his party. We ask what's changed in the 11 months since he handily won re-election, about the divide between urban and rural areas, and what's next for Turkey's democracy.Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

If you're wondering why Sweden and Finland broke with neutrality and joined Nato, just look at the map. Long before 2022 and Vladimir Putin's play for Ukraine's capital, Stockholm was already boosting its military, reintroducing a base on the strategic island of Gotland in 2018. Across the Baltic Sea, there's the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. France 24 went to Gotland. We'll ask just how crowded it's gotten in the Baltic Sea, whether joining Nato will deter Russia from trying its luck beyond Ukraine or stoke a perilous showdown? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

Kindred spirits or odd couple?Three days of joint photo ops featuring Emmanuel Macron and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva make for more than entertaining viewing: they’re downright confusing. The first state visit by a French president to Brazil in eleven years highlight how long overdue this reckoning this was. It’s the leftist Lula who wants to get a South America trade deal with Europe over the line. It’s the liberal Macron who wants to protect French farmers from what’s denounced here as the globalization of agro-industry.Both though have a common foe: Far-right leaders, like Lula’s predecessor Jair Bolsonaro who has no qualms about chopping down the Amazon or Marine Le Pen who’s quietly rooting for a return of Donald Trump to the White House. So where do interests - where do common interests lie for the likes of Brazil and France? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown. 

With the war between Israel and Hamas now in its sixth month, the needle is moving. But by how much? For the first time, the United States has lifted its veto on a UN resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. In past conflicts, whenever Washington has called time, Israel has bended. But what's to say this story follows the pattern? For residents of Gaza, Day 172 of the war offers no respite, with renewed air strikes. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is pushing back against Washington's growing pressure. So what's the Biden administration’s next move? And can we call this a turning point?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

The West blames jihadist radicals, the Kremlin is searching for a Ukraine connection and Moscow is reeling. Russia's deadliest terror attack in nearly two decades follows the same modus operandi as the 2015 Bataclan concert hall massacre in Paris. We ask about Friday night's bloodbath, why Moscow was targeted, the four alleged gunmen among the 11 currently in custody and the claim of responsibility by the Central Asia-based militants of IS-K.As countries like France raise their terror alert levels, we ask about Vladimir Putin's next move. How caught off guard was he? And how will the Russian president respond to the grief and outcry? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

Welcome to the France 24 Debate. Ukraine is the central theme of EU talks in Brussels. And whether Russian assets frozen in Europe should be diverted to Kyiv for the war effort.  The support of the 27 states is under the spotlight increasingly as doubts persist over America's continued financing of the Ukrainian resistance. The EU has a new fund called the Ukraine Facility, an initial payment of 4.5 billion euros has been paid to Kyiv, part of a 50 billion euro pot to held assure essential functions of the Ukrainian state. But the issue of weapons and hardware is another level, with EU leaders urging member states to put production on a war-footing. There is a packed agenda over at the EU Council: defence, the Middle East, expanding the bloc, migration, agriculture. But Ukraine is the central theme.  Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

Welcome to a special France 24 Debate. We are examining the situation in Gaza as diplomatic efforts are being stepped up to find a way to a truce. This as the death toll continues to go up. Overnight there were deaths in Gaza City, as Israel continued to bomb areas around the Al Shifa hospital.The death toll of Palestinians since October 7th is now almost 32,000 and counting. Rafah has been struck this Wednesday. Antony Blinken meanwhile is in Saudi Arabia, this is the 6th regional visit by the US Secretary of State since the war broke out, when Hamas attacked Israeli civilians killing some 1,200 and taking at least 250 hostage.The plight of the remaining 135 in captivity remains a headline story. And an embarrassment for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. His pledge to bring them home rings hollow for the families who fear for the safety of their loved ones held by the terrorists somewhere underground in Gaza.  Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Juliette Brown.

Any volunteers to save Haiti’s 11 million citizens?Gangs overrunning the country while the prime minister had gone to Kenya to seal a deal for an international policing force. Ariel Henry now stuck in Puerto Rico. The country’s been without a president since the 2021 assassination of Jovenel Moise in what seemed at the time like a new low for the America’s poorest nation. But it’s only gotten worse. Now Haiti’s truly leaderless. The U-N, United States and Carribean leaders are scrambling for an alternative to outright gang rule by the likes of the notorious Jimmy Cherizier – aka Barbecue. And if Washington’s tired of Henry, then what’s the alternative?Our panel reacts to the exclusive report we're about to show you by partner station France Deux filmed in the streets of Port-au-Prince before last weekend’s massive jail break by the gangs.Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Guillaume Gougeon and Imen Mellaz.

Five months, 30,000 Palestinians killed and an Israeli prime minister whose only plan seems to be to reoccupy Gaza indefinitely. This time, has the US had enough? In a first for the Biden administration, Vice President Kamala Harris called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, before welcoming Benjamin Netanyahu’s main political rival. Benny Gantz is currently part of a national unity war cabinet and is also being welcomed by the US Secretary of State, this as the US starts air drops for Gaza civilians and ups the pressure on Israel.As for Binyamin Netanyahu, who is critical of the red carpet rollout for Gantz, he's shrugging off the international community's fading support for Israel, instead playing on the support of far-right coalition partners and the nerves of mediators who don't want the Arab world to erupt when a month of prayer and fasting begins next week with Ramadan.How insulated is Israeli public opinion from the damage done to the country’s reputation by the killing of civilians? Has last week's bloodbath at a food distribution convoy in Gaza City moved the needle?Over the past five months, we have often asked how to find the common ground that can end this nightmare. With both sides traumatised by October 7 and its aftermath, who and how to break a deadlock that's both destructive and – critics argue – self-destructive?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz. 

Why set it in stone? France becoming the First Nation to enshrine abortion rights in its constitution, this m thanks to overwhelming approval from a rare joint session of both Houses of Parliament. Lawmakers launched the initiative after the U.S. Supreme Court’s overturning of a half century old federal guarantee. But does the rolling back of reproductive rights across the Atlantic and in places like Poland and Hungary necessitate a constitutional amendment in France? Unspoken is the very real chance of a surging far-right taking over for the first time since World War Two. Its leader Marine Le Pen herself voted for the amendment, so did a majority of her party, but many conservatives also want the constitution to recognize France’s Christian roots. Why do these culture wars issues resonate so powerfully? Are these issues specific to France and Europe or part of a global conversation about how humanity defines gender rights? More broadly, which way is the pendulum swinging? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz

July’s just around the corner. Is Paris ready to host the Summer Games? Mostly yes if you listen to France's president on hand for the inauguration of the Olympic village.The Olympic village, one of the few venues built from scratch for an event that promised sustainability and for the most part, to showcase existing structures. A total budget of less than 9 billion euros makes for 40-percent less than the London Olympics of 2012.  But there’s still plenty that can go wrong… from transport strikes and price gouging on hotel rooms to what’s on a municipal employee’s stolen laptop. Sources at Paris City Hall say he claimed to have been robbed of security plans for the Olympics so police would expedite his case. Either way, what are the challenges, particularly surrounding the opening ceremonies along the Seine?More broadly, there’s an essential question: 100 years after Paris last hosted the Games, what are the Olympics all about? In an era of superpower tensions, of splintered allegiances, why does this global spectacle continue to fascinate? Produced by Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati and Louise Guibert.

Don’t bet the family farm on it…Politicians in Paris, Warsaw, Brussels, Delhi won’t magically find the quick fix for an agriculture sector that’s gone global at the expense of small producers. Why is it erupting all over, including here in France?  Many of those who heckled President Macron at the opening of Paris’ big annual ag fair last Saturday say they wish they could live from the fruit of their labor but that new environmental norms and open borders make it impossible to compete. Many of them cheered the far-right’s leader when he showed up the next day. In India, those protesting lean more towards the left. The enemy they say isn’t sorely-needed food safety and biodiversity standards but World Trade Organization rules that let the foxes in amongst the chickens, global wholesalers and distributors who - they say - write the rules and impose their will. So, how best to protect small farming in the 21st Century? Produced by Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati and Louise Guibert

Emmanuel Macron turning heads at a hastily-organized summit for Ukraine: the French president for the first time evoking the possibly of Western troops to thwart a Russian victory, one option among many… and Macron himself acknowledging that opinions vary. Otherwise put, he's very much in the minority. But with U-S aid lost in the gridlock of an election year, Europeans - including the UK - showing a newfound sense of urgency as they watch the Ukrainians run low on manpower and ammo. We’ll ask how far this continent can go…… about public opinion that’s solidly behind Ukraine but wary of mission creep, whether we're talking about the same Emmanuel Macron who used to pride himself as the leader who can talk to Vladimir Putin… and Russia’s reaction, Russia that’s always backed his main rival - the far-right’s Marine Le Pen.Produced by Charles Wente, Guillaume Gougeon and Imen Mellaz.

There’s no good way to sugarcoat setbacks.On the second anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s all-out war, Ukraine conceding that its summer counter-offensive stalled and that in pulling back from Avdiivka, its forces were badly outmanned and outgunned. With U-S military aid seemingly stuck until November’s elections and beyond, nearly two dozen European leaders in Paris this Monday to try and cement a plan for picking up the slack. That’s begun… but at what pace? A solid majority of Europeans still support Kyiv but question its chances.And what next for Russia? As early voting in occupied parts of Ukraine begins for next month’s re-election of Vladimir Putin, Moscow has the momentum… but does that mean victory for a country that’s gone all-in for a wartime economy? Produced by Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

Four months and one day after Hamas’ attack on Israel and even though Gaza’s been flattened, neither side wants to stop.Benjamin Netanyahu pre-empting conciliatory noises by the visiting U-S Secretary of State by announcing months of war ahead with total victory as the sole option.  The head of Israel’s most right-wing government ever helped in his brinkmanship by Hamas itself which after nearly two weeks of truce efforts, has now piled on the demands to a hostage for prisoner exchange deal.Has Qatar been as ineffective with Palestinian militants as the U.S. with Netanyahu? In the Middle East, do hardliners always win over moderates?With Israeli guns now bearing down on Gaza’s southernmost city Rafah and U.S. military and civilian aid caught in the election year gridlock of Capitol Hill, who to break the impasse? Does a breakthrough have to go through Washington? Produced by Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

A country that’s broke, beset by radical insurgents, on the front lines of global warming needs leadership its citizens can trust. Thursday’s vote though follow a familiar pattern of revolving door politics. Out, former prime minister Imran Khan who first lost his coalition then his freedom after feuding with the military-backed establishment.In, a scion of Pakistani politics Nawaz Sharif whose return from exile was made possible by a Supreme Court rule change that enables him to run despite a corruption conviction. The same Sharif once ousted in a coup is back in favor. Why? What’s the army’s calculation?And how does a youthful nation break out of the dynastic politics of old? The third player in Thursday’s elections is Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, son of assassinated prime minister Benazir Bhutto. Why do dynasties dominate so in Pakistan… and what’s the alternative?Produced by Charles Wente, Guillaume Gougeon and Imen Mellaz.

Seventeen months after King Charles III rose from the title of world's longest-waiting heir to a throne, now comes news that Britain's monarch has cancer – and it’s not just royal watchers who care. King Charles III may occupy a post that's almost entirely devoid of political power, but even in the 21st century, a monarch is still a head of state.Through ritual and manner, he personifies a nation, and in this case, a Commonwealth.We ask about his decision to quickly go public with his ailment, how he has left his mark in his short reign so far, and what has changed on his watch since the passing of Queen Elizabeth II.We also ask: what is the general mood as the UK heads into its second post-Brexit general election campaign?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Josephine Joly and Imen Mellaz.

So what's the deal? No sooner had an emergency EU summit began that Hungary lifted its objections to a €50 million lifeline for Ukraine. The aid is vital for a country whose support from Washington is currently frozen. So what did Viktor Orban get in return? The Hungarian prime minister was quick to clarion another cause: cash-squeezed farmers, who saw the summit as a chance to besiege Brussels and air their case. How do the current crises play in voters' minds ahead of European elections?And what would the outcome for Ukraine have been if the same summit had happened after June? For now, it's still winter and the stalemate on the battlefield is uglier than ever. What are Ukraine's prospects as Europe slowly ramps up its defence industry to prepare for the eventuality of a more Putin-friendly Donald Trump returning to the White House?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

What’s more difficult than guessing what goes on behind the walls of the Kremlin?Guessing what goes on in Pyongyang. The leader of one of the planet’s most reclusive regimes made a rare trip abroad last September to neighboring Russia. Then, it was Western claims of North Korean munitions winding up on the battlefield in Ukraine. Now, it is more. A Hwasal-2 cruise missile fired in the West Sea Tuesday seen by some as the usual sabre rattling in response to annual military exercises by the South, but this time, is it testing the goods for export to Russia?Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has triggered sanctions and a prolonged war effort have drawn Vladimir Putin closer to Western pariah Iran. How about North Korea? A chance for Pyongyang to break its international isolation? And what consequences for Seoul? On that score, we will ask about tensions between the two Koreas, tensions currently on the up.  Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati et  Imen Mellaz.

The French call the first general policy speech of a prime minister before parliament the great oral exam.That expression takes a whole new layer of meaning when the prime minister is 34. We will ask how Gabriel Attal, the youngest head of government in two centuries weathered the traditional jeers and whistles from the opposition benches in a national assembly where the ruling centrists do not have a majority and - with farmers' tractors converging on the capital - how he's handling his first nationwide protest movement.the same protests by agriculture workers that mushroomed across Europe forcing Attal into hard bargaining with unions and industry reps ahead of an E-U Summit Thursday where France will talk up ideas like "sovereignty" and "a French agricultural exception".Speaking of sovereignty, Attal talking up curbs on immigration and better pay for those who work than those who don't. Effective enough to siphon votes from a surging far-right?  Produced by Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati, Peter Hutt-Sierra and Imen Mellaz.

What is Washington to do about Mideast mission creep? What response from the United States after the weekend attack in Jordan that’s killed three of its troops? It has already hit back at Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria but to what effect? And with air strikes so far failing to deter Houthis from targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea, how to stop Iran from testing the West’s resolve?We will ask how much Tehran’s had a hand in Hamas’ October 7th attack and its aftermath, and what went down in Paris this past weekend as Israel and its mediators on the quiet contemplated conditions for fighting to stop. Here is where Joe Biden needs to muster all the experience of a half-century in politics: how to lean on an Israeli prime minister who is clearly in no hurry to end the war without the pressure appearing as appeasing Iran? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

Their tractors have been bearing down on Europe's capitals. From Berlin to Bucharest, Warsaw to Brussels, farmers venting their fury with margins squeezed by inflation and big distributors who drive down market prices in the name of protecting consumers’ pocketbooks.   Here in France, the movement is gone from the impoverished small family farms of the southwest to the gates of Paris. In a nation that is particularly proud of its peasant roots, whose agro-industry giants rank among world leaders, we will ask about the fury and distress and about the government’s pledge to streamline red tape. And while the EU’s forced to justify and possibly review new environmental norms that farmers say only open the door to less regulated competitors from around the world, the far-right’s making political hay out of what they portray as woke globalist tree huggers out of touch with reality: all this ahead of June’s European elections.  Produced by Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

So much for the primaries. Donald Trump all but killing suspense in January with an 11-point win in New Hampshire over the sole Republican rival left standing. Never Trumpers can try the « it’s only 11 points » argument in a state he won by 20 during his first run in 2016, but New Hampshire’s an outlier that lets independents vote in primaries. Exit polls suggest the former president won the votes of three-quarters of party faithful. We will ask about the faithful: they do not all approve the January 6th 2021 bid to storm the Capitol and overturn elections, but they are ready to overlook that. Why? And why are they so energised? Do the Trumps of this world answer a demand or dictate the agenda? More importantly, is that energy enough to unseat Joe Biden? As 2016 proved, Trump does not need a majority of the vote but to win in the right states. So what is the populist strategy for 2024?  Produced by Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

As pressure on Israel to formulate an exit strategy mounts, the fighting in Gaza seems to only intensify. Twenty-five thousand killed and counting there and while the Israeli military claims to have encircled the southern city of Khan Younes, it is also burying its dead after its deadliest firefight since October 7th. We will hear reactions to the twenty-one reservists killed. For Israel’s prime minister, it is all happening as he faces the wrath of families of hostages who want their loved ones home safe and as US and European allies dial up pressure to do what Benjamin Netanyahu’s always resisted: work towards an actual two-state solution with the Palestinians. It is also about political survival: Netanyahu faces a reckoning over security lapses on his watch when fighting ends, not to mention three corruption cases. For Israel, it is about a shattered sense of invincibility. For ordinary Palestinians, a nightmare. How then to end this cycle of death? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

India’s prime minister calls it a new beginning.Narendra Modi in the nation's most populous state consecrating the Ayodhya temple, fulfilling a decades-old promise to build a proper shrine to the deity Ram on the site where a Moghul-era mosque was torn down by Hindu nationalists in 1992. A turning point for secularism in the world’s largest democracy? The ceremony viewed by many as the unofficial kickoff of the campaign for Modi’s BJP in its bid for a third term in power. How much will identity politics matter during the five weeks of voting that kick off across the country in April?More broadly, in a nation where growth is soaring, where technology now reaches the most remote village, but where nearly two-thirds of citizens still live outside cities, how do values evolve? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

Has Iran just opened a new front? On top of support for Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, now come tit-for-tat strikes with Pakistan to the east. Both sides say they targeted separatist Baloch insurgents, but the sudden escalation between usually friendly neighbours adds a whole new layer of uncertainty to a region that's already close to boiling point.  Since October 7, critics have portrayed Iran as a puppet master, as evidenced by Kal's cartoon in The Economist, with the caption "I prefer a hands-off approach".Recently, Iran has had to contend with terror at home: the targeting of police stations by radical Baloch separatists and the twin bombings in Kerman at the start of the month in a ceremony honouring late Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani. On Tuesday, Tehran hit targets in Pakistan, but also Iraqi Kurdistan and Syria. On that score, just as we've asked if the United States is overstretched patrolling in both the Mediterranean off Israel and Lebanon, and now off the coast of Yemen amid Houthi strikes on shipping, can the same be said of Iran?Produced by Juliette Laurain, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

2024 began with conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East that are sending shockwaves around the world. It continues with a scramble for innovation in energy and tech that's got the superpowers beefing up protection for homegrown industry and along the way, a series of elections that often pit populists against the guardians of globalised trade. Enter France’s term-limited president. We hear what Emmanuel Macron had to say at his first visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos in six years. Caught between the investors they need to court and the superpowers China and the US that seem locked in a tariff and subsidy race, do citizens want an EU that's open for business, or manning its borders? A reminder of the challenge ahead of June's European Elections came on Monday, when tractors rolled into Berlin. Farmers and truckers are both angry at the scrapping of a subsidy on diesel that they say punishes the working classes. With global warming, the green transition has become a question of national security all around. But does it have to increase inequality and force a backlash that favours the far right?Whether it's the green transition or the defence industry, it's all down to the role of the state. The disruption of supply chains in Europe during Covid-19 and Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine have forced a rethink on when profits come second to security. So what does 2024 look like?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Imen Mellaz.

He is charged with inciting a mob to try to overturn his defeat in 2020. So why is it that just three years later, Donald Trump may have already killed suspense in the race to the 2024 Republican nomination? We will ask about the former president’s record win in the Iowa caucuses where he barely campaigned in person and stayed so far ahead of the rest of the field that he did not even bother with candidates debates. They say there’s no such thing as bad publicity. The limelight seems to be serving Trump well in this election year, even if it is from the dock of his countless court case, where to his supporters, he is the victim of a system that is rigged. That is the narrative amplified by the likes of Fox News. But to win a general election, Trump will have to convince enough independent voters that they too are hard done by in this rematch of the nativists versus the globalists. Keenly aware is his rival, Joe Biden who is courted trade unions, pushed subsidies for homegrown industry and incessantly pointed to his own working class roots. And yet, despite January 6th, the race is close, very close. With populists from France to South America inspired by the Trump method, is it already a turning point for the liberal democracies the world over? Produced by Juliette Laurain, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

Beijing’s message to Taiwan’s voters just does not seem to be getting through. William Lai’s win in Saturday’s first-past-the-post presidential race means an unprecedented third straight term for what the mainland has dubbed the “pro-separatist” Democratic Progressive Party. We’ll hear what the victor - who is also the outgoing vice-president - had to say against the long and steady ratcheting up of tensions in the Taiwan Strait and the carefully-staged response from Washington with the visit of a high-level bipartisan delegation.How would Taiwan’s election impact US-China relations this year with one side set to hold presidential elections and the other witnessing slowing economic growth?At the heart of it all is China’s influence in its own backyard: after calling time on Hong Kong’s special status, has it further turned the Taiwanese away or do the opposition’s gains in legislative elections tell a different story?Produced by Yann Pusztai, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

Three candidates, two superpowers and one island. Taiwan is picking a president and a parliament on Saturday amid steadily surging nationalism in mainland China and all the talk of decoupling and derisking by the United States. Who will succeed the pro-Western incumbent, Tsai Ing-wen? How high are the stakes? We ask how the candidates see the rising tensions in the Taiwan Strait, whether there is room for compromise with Beijing, how much they can count on Washington and how much the rest of the world counts on a nation of just 24 million people but that dominates the market for the semiconductors that power our digital age. Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Imen Mellaz.

It is only on a voluntary basis. So how much to make of Russian authorities offering their citizens a ride out of Belgorod? The western city across from Ukraine's Kharkiv is increasingly the target of Moscow's own medicine: a steady diet of missiles from the sky. As NATO leaders meet in Brussels, the battle for air superiority is squarely on the radar of both sides. As we approach the third anniversary of Vladimir Putin's bid to take Kyiv, drones, planes and the flying projectiles they carry could make all the difference in breaking the bloody stalemate on the ground. For the West, it's a race against time.With financing for Ukraine in limbo and 2024 serving up the chance of Donald Trump returning to power in the US, we ask about Europe's efforts to ensure its own defence and thwart Putin's westward march. Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Imen Mellaz.

New year, new face. France's youngest-ever president has named the country's youngest-ever prime minister. We ask why Emmanuel Macron chose to replace Élisabeth Borne with Gabriel Attal and chart the meteoric rise of a 34-year-old Parisian who has already enjoyed stints as city councillor, party spokesperson, budget minister, government spokesperson and most recently, education minister. This being France, with so much power concentrated inside the gates of the presidential palace, the title of prime minister does not carry the same clout as perhaps elsewhere in Europe. With a minority government in parliament and polling in the doldrums, how much will the term-limited Macron micromanage the most charismatic head of government France has seen in a long while?Their first test is to come up with a compelling narrative that can counter the far-right, where Marine Le Pen has an even younger party leader, 28-year-old Jordan Bardella, who for now tops all polls for June's European elections. For a Macron who sometimes seems to lay claim to the title of president of Europe, a new record result for the far- ight would not be a great look.Produced by Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati, Peter Hutt-Sierra and Imen Mellaz. 

Second front or wind it down? The new year begins with yet another trip by the US Secretary of State to Israel. What message does Antony Blinken carry for Benjamin Netanyahu? As the war in Gaza enters its fourth month, we ask about Washington's calls for restraint and the potential for escalation with Lebanon, this in the wake of last week's air strike that killed a senior Hamas official in a Hezbollah stronghold of Beirut. Blinken's visit comes as Israel's military announces a drawdown from northern Gaza. The beginning of the end of a brutal campaign or a redeployment to the northern border? The prime minister continues to insist on a long war.We ask about simmering tensions between Netanyahu and his military command, as well as the staying power of the longest-serving leader in Israel’s history. Netanyahu's coalition with a far right that wants to annex Gaza seems safe for now, despite growing domestic pressure and the knowledge that Israel's main backer, the United States, clearly does not want another "forever war" in an election year.Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

Thirteen short months ago, an innocuous tweet from the head of a Silicon Valley nonprofit launched something called ChatGPT. But within five days, more than one million people had taken up Sam Altman's offer and tried out the new baby of OpenAI. Out were decades of grappling over the theoretical dangers of powerful artificial intelligence systems. In was a race to corner the market, with the parent companies of rivals Google and Facebook scrambling to match Microsoft’s $13 billion investment. High-stakes drama ensued, with the firing and re-hiring of Altman. But at the heart of that Silicon Valley soap opera lies the bigger question: will 2023 prove a tipping point for humanity? If so, for better or for worse? Will artificial intelligence save lives or destroy them? Ensure new livelihoods or make us all redundant? We're still grappling with the implications of this digital age: in the era of online dating and algorithms that draw us into a virtual world that caters to our tastes, have machines already altered the way we think? As humans, are we more plugged in or alienated than before? And what happens after 2023 and the year the AI genie was let out of the bottle?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.Watch our Reporters showIn China, artificial intelligence extends its hold on daily life

The stakes are as high as the wait is long in CongoVoting rolled over for an unscheduled second day in a sprawling, often unruly Central African nation that’s picking a president, national, regional and municipal lawmakers. The logistics are challenging, the politics are rough in a resources-rich nation that’s dogged by poverty, corruption and decades of insurgencies in the east. Five years ago, the D-R Congo voted out an incumbent president peacefully through the ballot box. The process though was far from perfect, with evidence of wide-scale irregularities. Will this time be different? We’ll ask our panel about the players…… and the arbiters who include both poll monitors from the clergy and a national electoral commission. In a nation where the state itself is weak, we’ll measure what’s changed in five years… whether citizens have benefited at all from a precious minerals boom… and what’s next for what’s now the world’s biggest francophone nation.Produced by Charles Wente, Guillaume Gougeon and Juliette Brown.

A turning point for French politics?Emmanuel Macron’s ruling party’s in crisis after the far-right threw its weight behind an immigration bill stiffened after a parliamentary compromise. The government insists it had the votes without Marine Le Pen’s party… but as we’ll see, there’s more than one way to read the outcome. “An ideological victory,” hails Le Pen – whose National Rally is now the largest opposition party in parliament. The definitive end of pariah status for a movement with a Nazi collaborator past? Where does it leave France’s term-limited president? The next presidential poll’s not until 2027. In a nation where a lot of power’s concentrated at the top, will Macron’s successor be able to argue as he did that those who disagree with him should hold their noses to block Le Pen?There’s also a broader question: whether it’s France, the UK, the Netherlands… why is immigration the issue that’s got governments on the backfoot? The crisis in France erupting on the day the E-U agreed to what it bills as its biggest immigration reform in decades. For what outcome when citizens vote in EU elections next June?Produced by Charles Wente, Guillaume Gougeon and Juliette Brown.

Does the buck stop in Brussels?The EU’s internal markets commission opening first-ever proceedings over social media content. In its crosshairs, Elon Musk’s X – formerly Twitter – over illegal posts and disiniformation. It follows an initial warning over a deluge of hate spewed on the social networking site in the wake of the October 7th attack by Hamas and the war with Israel. We’ll ask about this litmus test for Europe’s brand new regulation known as the Digital Services Act. In content moderation, there’s the moderation… and there’s the content: if 2023 was the year that AI went mainstream with ChatGPT, will 2024 be the year that deepfakes swing elections? A big year of campaigning awaits in Europe, India and the United States. For instance, the E-U’s new AI legislation calls for the labeling of realistic-looking artificial content. Will it be enough?Regulators will always be one step behind innovators. In this case, will it be enough. Will citizens demand answers or simply trust what’s in their timeline?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Guillaume Gougeon and Juliette Brown.

How long can Israel’s government dismiss the pressure? The US defense secretary is in town after a week where Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu, for the first time in ten weeks of war, pointedly aired their differences publicly over the way Israel is conducting its ground operation in Gaza and the plan for what happens next. We will ask about the mounting pressure from allies and the mounting domestic pressure after last week’s killing of three escaped hostages by Israeli forces.For the first time Saturday, a rally for those abducted by Hamas clearly turned into an anti-Netanyahu protest. The voice of an interest group or a turning point for a nation and the legacy of its dominant figure of the past quarter century?"Our army doesn't know how to observe open-fire regulations." The bitter accusation comes from the father of slain hostage Alon Shamriz.The state of Israel is getting an earful from the Pope. On Sunday, he suggested that Israel's military was employing terrorism tactics when first a mother who had gone to the bathroom in the compound of the church of the Holy Parish in Gaza and then her daughter were shot dead. The church blames an Israeli sniper. Israel's government insists it does not shoot unarmed civilians.Israel's military organized a press tour Sunday of a large tunnel, wide enough to drive a car in, that it says stretches for four kilometres, part of the so-called Gaza Metro that is the target of the current operation. Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Lila Paulou and Juliette Brown.

Too little, too late or a milestone moment? The gavel going down on the annual UN climate summit with a final declaration that for the first time recognizes the need to transition away from fossil fuels. That was not a given when it was announced that the world's seventh largest oil producer would host COP28 in Dubai. As always, these summits conclude with at best statements of intention. So how much will this one matter? Other precepts out of Dubai include a tripling of renewables by the end of the decade. What are the alternatives to oil and coal? What status for natural gas - seen by some as a "transition energy"? New sources of power will not be enough. So what of humanity's centuries-old business model of "more, more, more" production and consumption of stuff?The same politicians who hail the final text as a breakthrough have also seen the far-right capitalize on a backlash against measures that they say punish the poor, pointing for instance to the quickly-scrapped carbon tax that triggered France's Yellow Vests movement. To save the planet, what personal sacrifices? What collective measures?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Louise Guibert.

Last week he sent his Defense Minister. This time Volodymyr Zelenskiy in person made the trip to Washington to try to convince Republicans to lift objections to a desperately-needed financial lifeline. That is not the furthest Ukraine’s president has gone. Zelenskyy travelled all the way to Buenos Aires, nominally to attend the inauguration of new president Javier Milei but more importantly, to lobby the pro-Milei, pro-Trump leader of Hungary. Viktor Orban who has got France and Germany crying uncle on releasing frozen European funds so he will lift his veto threat on Thursday’s EU summit extending its own lifeline for Ukraine. No other way to keep Ukraine’s deadlocked campaign alive? How frozen is the front line? What is the alternative to a war that is marking its 10th anniversary ten years and counting?Produced by Yann Pusztai, Juliette Laurain and Louise Guibert.

It's the second coming of Donald Tusk with implications well beyond Poland’s borders. Two months after a general election marked by a huge turnout comes a comeback for the center-right leader. Tusk’s first stint as prime minister was followed up by a move to Brussels where as president of the European Council, he found himself clashing with the leadership of his own country.  Now, after eight years of the right-wing nationalist Law and Justice Party, we’ll ask how different Tusk II will be from Tusk I.With a sitting president who wields veto powers, with PiS appointments in the courts and at the central bank, will it be change or political gridlock?Speaking of gridlock, the vote in Poland's parliament coinciding with the lifting of the month-long border blockade of Ukraine's biggest road crossing by Polish truckers and farmers. Will the change of leadership in Warsaw quell wavering support for Kyiv's war effort and the EU entry permit exemptions that go with it?More broadly, which way for a onetime Soviet bloc nation whose economy has soared since joining the EU in 2004 but whose mostly-Catholic electorate remains bitterly divided over culture war issues. Was the tightening of one of the EU's strictest abortion laws what swung the pendulum away from conservatives? Produced by Charles Wente, Louise Guibert and Lila Paulou.

As a nation enters a third winter of fighting for its very existence, it must wait - one ocean away - on a domestic partisan feud. Republicans in the US Senate have shrugged off Joe Biden's plea not to gift a win to Vladimir Putin and have blocked aid for Ukraine over a dispute on funding for the border with Mexico. It's classic Beltway horse trading. But what are the life-or-death consequences? What about Washington's street cred as guarantor of the NATO alliance? Speaking of horse trading, guess who's coming to dinner in Paris? Hungary's prime minister, who was recently welcomed in Moscow with open arms. Viktor Orban wants the unfreezing of EU funding blocked over rule of law issues or he says he'll scupper the bloc's own Ukraine funding at next week's final Brussels summit of the year. How fragile is Western policymaking? What options for Kyiv as it faces a bloody winter stalemate on the battlefield?Produced by Charles Wente, Guillaume Gougeon and Imen Mellaz.

While the world watches Israel's war with Hamas and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza… anything that eases tensions is welcomed, right?So why won’t Israel’s government call time on attacks by Jewish settlers in the West Bank, settlers who since October 7th have stepped up their push to forceful expel Palestinians from their land?  The U-S calls it fuel on the fire and has now announced visa bans for extremists. How serious is Washington? Is Israel listening?Not if you read the latest and the government's reported approval of 17-hundred new housing units in an East Jerusalem settlement. Add to that, plans for a Thursday march that's been authorized to pass through Jerusalem’s Al Aqsa compound, one of the holiest sites in Islam which is also holy to Jews as Temple Mount. Why? Why now?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Guillaume Gougeon and Imen Mellaz.Read moreIn West Bank city of Hebron, violence soars between Israeli settlers and Palestinians

When is it terrorism? When is it a mental health issue? France’s Interior minister branding Saturday night’s fatal stabbing of a German tourist near the Eiffel Tower a "failing of psychiatric care." We ask about Gerald Darmanin’s words and the profile of a 26-year old suspect who had been detained before, treated before and who remained on a  police radicalization watchlist.  Times have changed since 2015 when France was the target of a wave of jihadist-inspired terror attacks but there are constants: Whether it is pre-planned political violence or a spur-of-the-moment impulse, it takes a deranged mind to attack random strangers. Why do some cross the threshold from verbal violence, of which there is plenty these days, to physical violence? Has the world become a more violent place since the Covid pandemic or does social media simply play on fears and amplify acts of horror?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Imen Mellaz.

If the objective is the total destruction of Hamas, then “the war will last ten years.”That warning by France's president follows the collapse of a seven-day truce.After an Act I that reduced huge swaths of northern Gaza to rubble, how long will Act II last? We'll hear Emmanuel Macron and the warning issued by Joe Biden’s defense secretary: if Israel doesn’t do more to protect civilians, it risks “strategic defeat”. We’ll ask what Lloyd Austin means... and what Israel wants. What are achievable objectives… both military and political… that can isolate an emboldened Hamas and offer real hope to both Israelis and Palestinians?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Guillaume Gougeon and Imen Mellaz.

It's off the charts. All evidence points to an acceleration of the planet’s record-breaking heat. So the blame game begins, as the COP 28 summit opens in the oil and gas-rich United Arab Emirates, between those who provide fossil fuels, those who consume them and those in the front lines of desertification and rising sea levels. Before even contemplating binding targets, will the final communique even include a pledge to phase out hydrocarbons?  Beyond tired scapegoating arguments, there’s a more important question: how shortsighted is humanity? Will we all perish tomorrow morning? No. But we will have to pay our food and energy bills. In Germany, cost is why there’s a backlash against policies aimed at phasing out gas boilers, why a quickly-scrapped carbon tax sparked France’s Yellow Vests movement, why naval-dependent Greece is leading the charge against a shipping tax. Which brings us back to the UN climate summit in Dubai. In an era when our Instagram feeds encourage us to buy more, to strive for the jet set life, in an era where nationalism trumps global treaties, can humanity find the common ground necessary to ensure its own survival?  Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Guillaume Gougeon and Louise Guibert.

If a second ceasefire extension holds, it will have been well over a week since the respite began for the daily pounding of the Gaza Strip. It is pressure from hostage families that forced Israel’s government to prioritize the return of loved ones above revenge over the bloodiest day in the country’s history. What has happened since guns have gone quiet?  Desperately-needed aid has entered a Gaza still under blockade, although not enough to make up for the destruction and displacement of population on an epic scale. Will it really be a return to massive air strikes when the deadline passes?What is the alternative? That is largely the decision of Israel’s hard right government which for now is negotiating with Hamas but will not settle for anything less than forceful removal from Gaza. Can this be done without killings thousands more civilians? Is there a way for Hamas to go quietly? That is hard to imagine under the command of its brutal leader in Gaza Yahya Sinwar but with all the hard bargaining going on, are there others, outside of the radicals on both sides, ready to contemplate an alternative?Produced by Charles Wente, Juliette Laurain and Guillaume Gougeon.

The planet’s burning up, humanity’s addiction to fossil fuels is to blame and the host of a crucial U-N climate summit is the United Arab Emirates, a Gulf petromonarchy whose stated aim is a 25-percent ramping up of activity at its state oil company. In fact, it’s Adnac’s boss, Prince Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber who’s official chair of the COP 28 summit. In fairness to the UAE, these annual gatherings rotate between regions and it just happened to be the Middle East’s turn. So, one year after Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup sparked accusations of sportswashing, we’ll ask how green Dubai will seem when the gavel comes down on a crucial gathering for carbon cutting pledges and climate finance for developing nations. More broadly, what to make of a tiny federation of emirates positioned as a supersized oil giant and trade hub, which hosts US military bases and sanctioned Russian oligarchs, which plows money into Premier league champions Manchester City and the brutal RSF militias in Sudan’s civil war.Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati, Guillaume Gougeon and Louise Guibert.

Peace is most certainly not breaking out. Still, after seven weeks of war, a first four-day truce... extended to six. What to make of it? What is on the table between Israel and Hamas? Will more hostages be freed in exchange for how many Palestinian prisoners. We will listen to what families on both sides are saying and weigh the options.The United States is not the only player pushing to build on the temporary truce into a more durable ceasefire. Not so long as Hamas remains in power, insists Israel but with so much of the Gaza Strip reduced to rubble, how long can a ground war continue? A longer cessation of hostilities means offering an alternative. If it is not a return to pre-October 7th status quo, then what? Produced by Juliette Laurain, Rebecca Gnignati, Guillaume Gougeon and Louise Guibert.

There has been a delay in the expected release of some 50 Israeli hostages. The deal is still being finalised in Qatar where senior Hamas leadership is based. A high ranking member of Israel's Mossad secret service is there talking to Hamas. The deal, as publicised thus far,  involves 50 hostages being swapped for 150 Palestinian prisoners. Described as terrorists by Israel, they are mainly women and youngsters aged between 16 and 18. The hostages to be freed are also women and children. The air strikes and the ground offensive mounted by Israel against Hamas has continued this Thursday. The word from Israel is that the exchange will not happen before Friday. So many a slip twixt cup and lip. In the mean time the families of the hostages wait. Their campaign has kept the plight of their loved ones in the headlines. We are examining the situation in this programme. What are the sticking points? And will this be the pattern going forward? There are perhaps a further 190 hostages after the first 50 set for release.Produced by Charles Wente, Juliette Laurain and Louise Guibert.

Welcome to the France 24 Debate. We are examining the deal that will bring home at least 50 hostages held by Hamas. It includes a 4 day cease fire. Those who are to be released are women and children. Just to remind you, Israel’s military says there are 236 hostages in captivity, some reports still cite 250 as the number held. They were all snatched during the Hamas cross border raids on October 7th. At the same time horrific atrocities were committed on what were mostly Israeli civilians.The human cost of the Israel-Hamas War has already seen over 14,000 Palestinian civilians killed, among that number there are some 6,000 children. These figures come from the Hamas run Gaza Health Ministry.They also run the hospitals that have been targeted by Israel’s military who say Hamas operatives and control centres are based underneath them in the much talked about tunnels. Produced by Juliette Laurain, Rebecca Gnignati and Louise Guibert.

It's been one month and one day since Hamas last released hostages. Many a hope has been raised and dashed since. And until a deal is done, Israel continues its pounding of the Gaza Strip, where an estimated half of the buildings in the north are either damaged or destroyed. So what would a release look like? Hamas badly wants a truce, Israel the return of more than 200 civilians abducted on October 7. We ask about the mediators and the players. Ismael Haniyeh is the face of Hamas abroad, but who is calling the shots inside Gaza? Does Israel's leadership want to negotiate, or eliminate its interlocutors? Would a three or five-day truce signal a temporary respite or the first step towards spelling out an alternative to reducing all of Gaza to rubble?That raises the broader question: if Hamas's aim on October 7 was to spark a reaction, they got it. But now what? What is the ultimate goal for Palestinians? What is the ultimate goal for Israelis?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Louise Guibert.

You know the old adage about politics: you campaign in poetry and you govern in prose. Introducing Argentina’s Javier Milei and even though the winner of Sunday’s presidential runoff did not wield a chainsaw like he did on the campaign trail, the free market absolutist did again promise in his acceptance speech Argentina’s answer to draining the swamp. How radical will he be? How bad off is the country this time? Argentina which once again finds itself in the throes of hyper inflationary and a crippling debt crisis that’s wiped out savings. Will government services be gutted in the name of reform? What is the alternative?Or - with no path to a majority in parliament- will he turn to the conspiracy theories and culture wars he peddled on the campaign trail? More broadly, with the likes of Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro and Elon Musk rushing to congratulate Milei, what does this South American Election Day about what politics will look like in 2024? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

To paraphrase Joe Biden, one is a communist, the other is not. Can these rivals together get a handle on a world of growing conflicts? Amid fears that at any moment, superpowers could find themselves dragged into major wars in Ukraine and now the Middle East with Cold War-like standoffs in the Pacific over Taiwan and the South China Sea, the US and Chinese leaders met for the first time in over a year. Now that they have sat down in San Francisco on the sidelines of an APEC summit, but are fellow Asia-Pacific leaders feel reassured by what they have heard from Biden and Xi Jinping, rivals but also trade partners who head the world two most powerful economies? None of the summit participants are rooting for more confrontation, the world is polarized enough as it is. Why the persistent volatility? Why do global tensions feel like they are at their highest in recent memory?  Produced by François Picard, Alessandro Xenos, Imen Mellaz, Meiqi AN 

For the Israelis, the root of all evil runs through the alleged tunnels below the Al Shifa Hospital where Israeli soldiers penetrated on Wednesday. But for Palestinians, the hospital now represents a violated sanctuary as it becomes a symbol of civilian suffering. Israeli forces overnight carried out what it calls "a precise and targeted operation in a specified area" of Al Shifa after claiming Hamas was running operations out of the Gaza Strip’s largest medical facility. As international condemnation grows, we ask our guests how sensitive belligerents are to outside pressure. In the US, there is open divisions within the civil service and here in France, pushback from sitting ambassadors who have written a diplomatic cable calling for a more balanced and clear policy. What if the war lasts for another 40 days?Produced by François Picard, Alessandro Xenos, Imen Mellaz, Meiqi AN

San Francisco’s a long way from Gaza City or Aadvinka, but as warring sides in the Middle East and Ukraine dig in for the long haul, could an Asia-Pacific summit offer the venue where superpowers dial down the rhetoric of confrontation? At first glance, you would not think so: the first face-to-face meeting scheduled in more than a year between Joe Biden and Xi Jinping comes as the United States enters an election cycle where China bashing’s popular across political divides and where nationalism’s integral to China’s president’s tightening of his own grip on power.But with foreign investors frightened off by Beijing’s hard-line bend and the U.S. wary of standoffs in Taiwan and the Pacific jeopardizing the ties that bind, both sides have an interest in toning it down. Fact is, since the late 1990s, China’s provided the goods that the United States sells both at home and around the world. We will ask about Wednesday’s Biden-Xi meeting on the sidelines of the Apec summit and more broadly, in a post-Covid world where fear and confrontation are rife, how the rivalry evolves. Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

Western leaders spoke as one when they defended Israel's right to defend itself after the bloodiest day in its history, but with the war now in its sixth week, the initial military objective "eradicating Hamas" seems highly improbable without sacrificing civilian lives. After hosting a humanitarian conference for Gaza last week, France's President Emmanuel Macron is now calling for a ceasefire, making him an outlier among G7 nations.When conflict breaks out in the Middle East, it always stokes religious and communal divisions elsewhere. How to break the cycle of polarisation? In France, only a minority showed support for a ceasefire on Saturday and demonstrated against anti-Semitism on Sunday.We will also be talking about the Monday sacking of Britain's hard-right interior minister Suella Braverman.Produced by Alessandroo Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

How to get to a ceasefire in Gaza? For Israelis, the answer is clear: Hamas has to release its hostages. For the Palestinian militant group, Israel has to let fuel and basic necessities in. It is up to the belligerents in a war where an estimated one third of buildings in the north of the Strip have either been destroyed or damaged, with even more in Gaza City itself. All the international community can do is answer the United Nations' call to raise funds and prepare vital necessities for Gaza. We talk about the humanitarian conference hosted by France this Thursday and whether more can be done to spare civilian lives.To ask about a ceasefire is to ask, at this rate of killing and destruction, how long this war can last...and what's the plan for the day after? For a political settlement, there needs to be political will. The alternative is total destruction or a permanent state of war, scenarios that surely only suit the most radical elements on both sides.Produced by Charles Wente, François Picard, Imen Mellaz and Meiqi An

A surge in anti-Semitic sentiment or do we just live in an age where bigots have a bigger bullhorn?Here is what we do know: reported acts of hate against French Jews have soared since the Middle East erupted a month ago.  But the the spike in antisemitism did not start a month ago. Pre-Covid, social media was awash with conspiracy theories and tropes about Jews controlling finance and the media. Wewill ask about France’s present and past:In 1990, the desecration of Jewish tombstones in the southern city of Carpentras outraged France and brought out more than 200-thousand in the streets of Paris. How many - or how few - will turn out next Sunday for a march against antisemitism that is stoking bitter political divisions over the participation of a far-right whose roots go back to Nazi collaboration during the Second World War and who today stand squarely behind Israel?Produced by Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

One month after the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, PM Binyamin Netanyahu talks about the prospect of a long war, a prospect that seems impossible. So what's the alternative? Before October 7, Israeli hawks cynically characterised periodic flare-ups with Gaza as "mowing the lawn". Now, after the bloodiest day since independence for Israel, fighting escalating on multiple fronts, as well as the killing of more than 10,000 Palestinians, the reality can no longer be ignored. Nor each side's pain. The Algerian writer Kamel Daoud recently warned not to fall into the trap of turning "death tolls and suffering into a football match where you keep score", but it's much harder to find common ground and unearth the forlorn path to a viable and lasting political settlement.Produced by Charles Wente, Josephine Joly and Imen Mellaz.

« We obviously don’t agree on everything.”That understatement courtesy of the U-S Secretary of State. Now that Antony Blinken’s weekend shuttling from Jordan and the West Bank to Iraq and Turkey are over, we can ask: what were they all about? The trip that began with Blinken’s fourth trip to Israel in as many weeks included a slow ratcheting up of Washington’s calls for humanitarian pauses to spare civilian lives, but as Israeli troops surround Gaza City, protesters – like those outside Turkey’s Incirlik NATO military base Sunday – clearly do not see results.What was the aim of Blinken’s Turkey visit and why did the country’s president make a point of traveling to the remote northeast of the country while the top US diplomat was in town?Not to be overlooked, Iraq’s prime minister traveling to Tehran one day after Blinken paid a call on Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. With pro-Iran militias targeting U-S forces in Iraq and Syria, it is all a reminder that between Iran and its proxies on the one hand and the U-S and Israel on the other, there is a wide range of stakeholders,all looking for a way to reverse a deadly spiral that risks drawing in the entire region. Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

All eyes on this Friday’s dueling narratives.In Lebanon, the first speech since October 7th by the leader of Iran-backed militia Hezbollah while U-S Secretary of State Antony Blinken returns to the region, starting in Israel before Jordan and possibly Turkey. What does the US want? What does Iran want? Hezbollah’s lost several dozen in cross-border skirmishes since Hamas sparked the war with Israel last month. Do Tehran and its proxies want to keep the tensions on a low simmer or dial them up for a full boil? There are good arguments for both.The U-S, conscious of the mounting outrage over Israel’s daily bombardments of civilians in Gaza, is now calling for a humanitarian pause in that Palestinian territory. What’s Washington’s plan for de-escalation  at a time when Israel’s enemies, starting with Iran, see an opportunity to scuttle a normalization of ties with regional powers and a chance to break out of their own isolation in the name of solidarity with the Palestinians? Produced by Maya Yataghene, Rebecca Gnignati and Louise Guibert.

From October 7 to November 1, the voices critical of Israel are growing louder by the day. A case in point is the Americas, after a day when Bolivia became the first nation to sever ties with Tel Aviv, while Chile and Colombia recalled their ambassadors. The Israelis may claim that Tuesday's bombing of the Jabalia refugee camp killed a senior Hamas commander, but was it worth the lives of dozens of civilians including women and children?  Make no mistake, Latin American nations overwhelmingly condemned the Hamas slaughter of civilians. At least 15 Argentinians are listed as hostages. But the slow rollout of the ground offensive and the trickle of aid going into a blockaded Gaza have provoked sharp reactions.Like in France and the UK, the war in the Middle East is splitting apart the left in the United States. Is it enough to scar the Democratic Party as it heads into an election cycle?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Louise Guibert.

We’ve talked of how passions have run high here in France since the Middle East erupted. Every word from politicians gets scrutinized for signs of favoritism. In Russia, a clear-cut line: what with the foreign ministry last week welcoming a Hamas delegation and the Kremlin blaming Israel’s war with Gaza on US imperialism? A throwback to the days when the Soviets championed the Palestinian cause. But has the messaging been too effective? An angry mob last Sunday overran the tarmac in the Muslim-majority Russian Republic of Dagestan. They’d caught wind of a flight in transit from Tel Aviv and were searching for Israelis. Why the anger? We’ll ask about Moscow blaming the incident on Ukraine whose Jewish president was among the first to denounce the October 7 massacre by Hamas. In the nearly two years since Vladimir Putin’s invasion, Israel’s given Russia a wide berth as part of a quid pro quo: Moscow stays silent when the Israelis bomb Iran-aligned militias in Syria and the Israelis stay out of it in Ukraine and continue to welcome Jewish oligarchs. Now are all bets off? And more broadly, how does the Middle East impact a former Soviet space that’s home to both Jews and Muslims?There has been no official condemnation but 80 arrests and Russia's tightening security in the Muslim-majority south. In neighboring Chechnya, the Kremlin-backed leader Ramzan Kadyrov quoted as ordering a bullet in the forehead if suspected rioters don't respond to warning shots.Russia's president accuses Ukraine of rabble-rousing over social media, upon orders of "ruling elites of the United States and their satellites that are the main beneficiaries of global instability." Ever since Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine, it's been a balancing act handling minorities across Russia's eleven time zones.In September of last year, Dagestan saw protests against conscription into the army. But then, in the aftermath of Yevgeny Prigozhin's aborted march on Moscow, it was also in Dagestan where Vladimir Putin this past June decided to show his face first. Since October 7th, it's been getting testy between Kremlin propagandists on state television. Some of the firebrand presenter Vladimir Soloyov's Jewish panelists traded nasty barbs with others in the pro-Putin chattering classes. Many of the oligarchs under sanctions are Jews. Ukrainian-born billionaire Mikhael Fridman, who made his fortune in banking during the chaotic years when the Soviet Union fell apart, recently quit London for Moscow and a reported eye to Israel.Israel's always been careful to keep the lines of communication open with Moscow, even during the Cold War. Back in 2018, in Russia's May 9th Victory Day celebrations, Benjamin Netanyahu strode alongside Vladimir Putin holding the picture of Soviet Jewish Red Army Colonel Wolf Vilenski.Back in May, Ukraine's president appealed to Muslim solidarity at the Arab League summit in Jeddah, pointing to the persecution of Crimea's Tatar minority. India bills itself as a champion of the global south, but its leadership immediately rushed to Israel's defense after October 7th.Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Louise Guibert and Lila Paulou.

Israel's ground invasion is underway in Gaza. It's a move that flies in the face of a UN resolution calling for a ceasefire. The death toll among Palestinian civilians has risen steeply since the conflict began on October 7th.Medical officials in Gaza say there are over 8,000 Palestinians killed: the majority are women and children.The war began with the Hamas cross border incursion that brought terror and slaughter to towns, kibbutz and a music festival. 1,400 Israeli civilians were killed, and 229 are still in captivity, kidnapped by Hamas.This figure has gone down by one this Monday as a female soldier who was held hostage has been freed by Hamas.Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Lila Paulou and Louise Guibert.

If you thought it was hard getting 27 nations to speak with one voice when it came to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, just follow the wrangling over the EU summit's wording of its call to spare lives in Gaza. It is easy to dismiss the semantic nuances between ceasefire, truce and lull, but it should matter. After all, Europe too has citizens caught up in the conflict, the bloc is the biggest donor to the Palestinian Territories, and back home it has millions of citizens – Muslims, Jews and Christians – who all feel a stake in the unfolding eruption. And while the US has put its military might behind Israel, Europe finds itself in a difficult balancing act. We ask about France dispatching a hospital ship for Gaza while talking up a coalition to crush Hamas, the historical divides between the likes of Germany and Spain over the Middle East and more broadly, how to manage rage that is splitting political families and fuelling the worst kind of identity politics.Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Louise Guibert.

With each day that passes, the fury begets more fury. But while intense air strikes and a choke-hold blockade from Israel continue, while missile attacks from Gaza and Lebanon continue, still no ground offensive. It is reportedly on hold at Washington's request. There is the military preparations to consider. And politics. With two key factors. First, the hostages. What 85-year old Yocheved Lifshitz told reporters hours after her release Tuesday holds both military and political significance.We will ask about her words and how Israel handles the more than 200 others held by militant groups, a first in many a flare-up with Hamas.Then there are the open doubts over whether Israel under this leadership has thought through what an invasion of Gaza may mean.Reports suggest the United States, whose leader has owned up to the mistakes made in Iraq and Afghanistan, wants to know – beyond revenge – whether Israel has a long-term plan. More broadly, what’s alternative to Hamas and its ideology?  Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Louise Guibert

The Middle East fell off their radar. Now comes a steady stream of leaders who have donned their penitent's garb and flown in to show support and push for peace. The latest is Emmanuel Macron. The French president is travelling to both Israel and the West Bank as the war with Gaza stokes bitter rivalries in France, the European nation that's home to Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim populations. We ask about Paris's official policy going forward and the acrimony at home over the far left's refusal to brand Hamas a terror organisation and over the government’s blanket ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations, a ban that's since been overturned by the courts. How toxic is it this time in France? The whole world feels a stake in the land that's three times holy and the French are no exception. From the Crusaders and Napoleon to de Gaulle and Chirac, the Middle East plays a part in our own collective narrative. If this is a watershed moment for the Middle East, then which way is it headed? He landed in Tel Aviv and before he'd left the airport, Emmanuel Macron met families of the victims of the October 7 attacks. Thirty French citizens were killed on the day. Nine remain missing, possibly hostages. Macron made the rounds by meeting with the president, the prime minister and leaders of the opposition. In Benjamin Netanyahu's company, he talked tough on Hamas with an idea that drew everyone's attention. The backlash was immediate: putting Hamas in the same bag as the Islamic State group would be tantamount to France ruling out a peaceful solution for Gaza and endorsing all-out war.After Dutch PM Mark Rutte on Monday, Emmanuel Macron made the trip to Ramallah and sat down with Mahmoud Abbas, something US President Joe Biden couldn't do the day after the Gaza hospital bombing. The conflict is creating an ongoing war of words here in France. The latest episode was sparked by the speaker of parliament's weekend visit to Israel, judged too one-sided by the firebrand far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the same Mélenchon who refuses to brand Hamas a terror group.While the French left tears itself apart, the far right's Marine Le Pen is climbing in the polls. During Monday's parliamentary debate, she bashed the concept of a Gaza ceasefire, saying "you only ask terrorists to lay down their weapons and liberate hostages".Jacques Chirac won instant glory in the Arab World with his 1996 "this is a provocation" moment of anger when he pushed back against Israeli security on a trip to the Old City of Jerusalem, but he's possibly the last French president to proclaim France's difference on Middle East policy. This despite a hot mic moment where his successor Nicolas Sarkozy was caught telling Barack Obama that Benjamin Netanyahu was a liar whom he couldn't stand anymore.Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Lila Paulou and Louise Guibert.

Still no invasion. Israel has been saying for days that it is ready for a full ground offensive but outside of limited incursions, the infantry is on standby. According to The New York Times, the United States through its Defence Secretary urged his Israeli counterpart to hold off. This in a bid to secure the release of more hostages like the pair of Americans freed after negotiations brokered by Qatar. With the number of abducted that Israel now puts at 222, we ask how that bargaining is going and how the leadership’s handling the crisis.What with a Prime Minister who is rowed with his own military and whose popularity has plummeted spectacularly. Benjamin Netanyahu still refuses to accept blame for the security lapses that allowed Hamas to carry out the October 7th massacre. But even his opponents say the middle of a war is not the time to replace a leader. Are they right?More broadly, the blockade and daily bombing of Gaza continues to kill Palestinian civilians. A few dozen aid trucks from Egypt will not be enough. As the EU considers whether to endorse the United Nations’ call for a humanitarian truce, as each day of war heightens the threat of a second front with the Iran-aligned Hezbollah movement out of Lebanon, it is clear that time is on nobody’s side.Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Louise Guibert.

It is wishful thinking to ask about diplomacy when Israel is about to launch a ground invasion of Gaza and daily rocket exchanges with Lebanon’s Hezbollah raise the prospect of a second front. But escalation’s madness and the world sure does not need this cycle of polarization and radicalization. Diplomacy is not dead, although it may seem like it’s on life support. We ask about Rishi Sunak in Israel after Joe Biden, the king of Jordan traveling to Egypt and the German Defence Minister landing in Lebanon. So many peace efforts have failed over the past three decades that the international community grew tired of trying, instead hoping that Israel’s US-brokered normalization of ties with Arab states would induce a trickle-down positive effect on the Palestinians.Who brokers a path to real reconciliation? Hamas may be crushed militarily, but not its ideology. So who to negotiate with on the Palestinian side? And what about Israel, whose sitting prime minister pandered to Jewish far-right settlers intent on subjugating the West Bank? How to break this deadly cycle of hate?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Louise Guibert.

It's about fury, humiliation, fear and hate. So soon after the attack that killed hundreds at the al-Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza, neither side wants to hear the other's story. At least two people have been killed in West Bank protests over Tuesday evening's horror, which came on Day 11 of a war sparked by Hamas's shock attack on Israeli civilians. Israel's ground offensive has not even begun. Is there any way to stop this spiral?  Whoever's responsible, the attack has torpedoed US President Joe Biden’s plan to confer with the Palestinian and Egyptian presidents at a cancelled summit in Jordan. Nonetheless, he maintained his trip to Israel. Why? Was it the right move? The threat of escalation is no longer about just the Middle East.After the hospital was hit, spontaneous demonstrations erupted in many countries on Tuesday evening, like outside the French embassy in Tunis. The entire Arab world saw the first images on satellite television stations. How do France and all those who support Israel's right to defend itself react to these competing narratives?Produced by Charles Wente, Juliette Laurain and Louise Guibert.

Another war at Europe’s doorstep. Tensions are felt all the way here, so why is it so hard to get the messaging right?Critics of the European Commission president coming down like a ton of bricks on Ursula Von der Leyen after a visit to Israel where the former German defense minister left out language on the suffering of Palestinians. She later rectified. We will ask about a virtual EU summit that has now picked up on the language it took nine days for the bloc to agree on, namely about “Israel’s right to defend itself in line with humanitarian and international law” against the “violent and indiscriminate attacks” by Hamas.What attitude towards hostages? And the unfolding humanitarian disaster in Gaza? After Von der Leyen, the German chancellor is in Israel before heading to Egypt. Olaf Scholz precedes Joe Biden in Tel Aviv by 24 hours. Biden’s all-in stance behind Israel a reminder that also NATO allies have their differences.What happens now if it escalates even further?Produced by Juliette Laurain, Rebecca Gnignati and Louise Guibert.

An invasion of Gaza, and then what? In the buildup to a ground operation, Israel’s leadership has vowed to crush Hamas. But beyond public pronouncements, as residents on both sides of the border hold their breath, what is the actual plan? From destroying smugglers' tunnels to reoccupying the territory that Israel left in 2005, the spectrum runs wide. It's a race against time for Palestinians in Gaza, who are squeezed by a blockade from Israel and Egypt. We ask about moves to let aid in and civilians out of the Gaza Strip. A long war also means Israelis and the regional partners with whom they have normalised ties have to manage the optics of the Arab world watching as a humanitarian catastrophe unfolds.How will hardliners tap into that sympathy for the Palestinians? A case in point is Iran, whose foreign minister sat down on Sunday in Qatar with the civilian leader-in-exile of Hamas. Amid fatal skirmishes between Israel and Lebanon's Iran-aligned Hezbollah group, as the US Secretary of State returns to Tel Aviv for the second time in days, we ask what's next.Produced by Charles Wente, Juliette Laurain and Louise Guibert.

It's payback time. After the unspeakable horrors perpetrated by Hamas, Israel is now in battle formation. What does revenge look like? Amid the mobilisation, the air raids, with the Gaza Strip blockaded and out of water and electricity, where do civilians go? Meanwhile, the US Secretary of State has flown in to display support for Israel but also to negotiate a humanitarian corridor. But will that open a way out for desperate Palestinians? Gaza's only other land border is with Egypt, which wants no part of a large influx of refugees. Antony Blinken is in the Middle East for what's perhaps the second death of the two-state solution. With its surprise attack, Hamas clearly prefers war. In the build-up, Israel's prime minister chose to work with far-right coalition partners from the settler community whose focus was imposing their might on the West Bank. Looking ahead, what will hardliners – on both sides – gain from a Gaza Strip potentially reduced to rubble?Read moreShock Hamas terror attack: The beginning of the end for Israel’s Netanyahu?Egypt's foreign ministry says it has not officially closed its main Rafah border crossing with Gaza, but that Israeli air strikes have prevented it from operating. There's been talk of aid and fuel going through, but Cairo has pushed back against proposals to establish corridors out of Gaza, saying an exodus of Palestinians from the enclave would have grave consequences for the Palestinian cause.Could the current conflict also trigger a second exodus of Palestinians? Now that Israel's opposition has joined what's being called an emergency government, it's all about the war effort. Will it also signal a steering away from the radical right?Produced by Charles Wente, Lila Paulou and Louise Guibert

There is the horror, the reaction to the horror, and the reaction to the reaction to the horror. As more and more tales emerge of the savagery inflicted on civilians by Hamas militants, as loved ones wonder if the missing are captured or dead, the grief and rage mount.  As Israel mobilizes and seals off the Gaza Strip, will it be the prelude to an incursion, an invasion, an occupation? For civilians on the Palestinian side, the nightmare’s only at its beginning. And then there are the salvos exchanged with Iran-backed militants across the border in Syria and Lebanon. Our correspondent in southern Lebanon earlier reported on sustained gunfire across the border. How far will it escalate?Will it all draw in the superpowers? For the past two years, the focus has been on the U-S-Russia showdown over Ukraine. Could Washington and its allies instead find themselves in direct confrontation with Moscow ally Tehran? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati, Lila Paulou, and Louise Guibert.

What is just retribution? As Israel reels from the massacre of hundreds of civilians, the capture of hostages and the shattering of its aura of invincibility, there is the immediate reaction. We have seen the call-up of an unprecedented 300,000 reservists and the shutdown of food and fuel to Gaza. But the potential prospect of a ground offensive in Gaza, one of the planet's most densely populated territories comes at a very high cost. How long a war? How many casualties? What endgame? If it's to eliminate Hamas, what should it be replaced with? Israel left Gaza in 2005. Does it want to return? Most pressing is the cost to a civilian population already running low on drinking water and basic supplies. Right now, Israel has much of the world’s sympathy. Is there an alternative to a tooth-for-a-tooth, eye-for-an-eye policy? How to avoid squandering that sympathy the way the post-9/11 United States squandered sympathy by invading Iraq? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

How to make sense of the deadliest day in Israel’s history?Saturday’s shock cross-border attack leaving over 800 dead, most of them civilians. We will ask about the element of surprise, the retaliation that’s so far left more than 560 Palestinians dead and what’s next on this, day three of what may be a very long war.  How did Israel’s ironclad security reputation crumble so easily?We will ask about Gaza militants who hid in plain sight and a prime minister whose far-right government which put its bitter a domestic battle to change the constitution over trust its own military establishment.What next for Israel, the region, and the world? From the role played by Hamas backers Iran and Qatar to US support and spiking oil prices, what will the return of war in the Middle East mean for the rest of the planet? Produced by Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

Europe has got issues at its doorstep and Ukraine is only one of them. Azerbaijan overrunning Nagorno-Karabakh after promising not to invade during the European Union’s embryonic mediation effort. Not only was the promise broken but the winner is refusing a meeting with the loser. Both Azerbaijan's president Ilan Aliyev and his Turkish ally Recep Tayyip Erdogan passing on the invite to Granada, Spain for what has been a brainchild of France’s president, a summit of the European political community:essentially the EU and friends. We ask about the south Caucuses and the Balkans with the leaders of Serbia and Albania sending junior delegations to the summit in Granada in the wake of another spike in tensions on the EU’s doorstep.As the winds of isolationism sweep anew over Washington, what is left of Emmanuel Macron’s pitch for strategic autonomy so Europe can ensure security in its own neighborhood without over-reliance on the US? At least the French president and the German chancellor are both there. The pair has historically been the motor for EU reformbut right now, the couple seems to have flatlined. Why? How badly do fellow Europeans want to rekindle the chemistry between Berlin and Paris?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Imen Mellaz.

How effective is chaos as a political strategy? As the United States awakened to its first-ever destitution of a speaker of the House of Representatives, attention is turning to the eight members of the lower house who triggered Kevin McCarthy's downfall. We ask why the leader of the Republican majority in Congress seemed on borrowed time ever he was elected on the 15th ballot back in January. Will those pro-Trump loyalists be rewarded or punished for their hardline stance? The overwhelming majority opted for compromise in last weekend’s budget deal, but already Donald Trump is blowing away the rest of the field in polls for his party's nomination next year – Trump, who regularly blasts institutions as well as judges presiding over his own trials. How vulnerable are those US institutions?And what is the contingency plan for the rest of the world, if the world’s most powerful nation can no longer function domestically? It's not currently the case, but what happens next?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Imen Melllaz.

The French Foreign Minister, Catherine Colonna, is in Armenia today, to examine the situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, an enclave in Azerbaijan which until 2 weeks ago had a sizeable ethnic Armenian population. But now the enclave is empty, as more than 100,000 of its former residents have crossed the border and now live in Armenia. Colonna is the first Western minister to visit Armenia since the Azeri operation, and she says she's there "to reaffirm France's support to Armenia's sovereignty and territorial integrity".The French Foreign Minister will also be assessing Armenia's needs as it faces this huge influx of refugees, as well as the threat that some fear of Azerbaijani military operations on its territory.That fear is compounded by the sense that France – and the West more generally – did not take a strong position on Nagorno-Karabakh, which could serve to embolden the Azeris if they decide to venture beyond their borders.So what is the purpose of this visit to Armenia by the French Foreign Minister? Can France offer Armenia any kind of security guarantees? Could the EU be poised to step in and SANCTION Baku? And what will become of the more than 100,000 Ethnic Armenians who've been forced to flee?Produced by Charles Wente, Josephine Joly and Imen Mellaz.

As if nightly Russian missile strikes were not enough, Kyiv started the week with more in its Monday morning in-tray. First with neighbouring Slovakia, where the pro-Russian candidate Robert Fico finished tops in a weekend general election, leaving people to wonder: what kind of a coalition will the anti-West left-wing populist form? Next, there's the Capitol Hill compromise that prevents a US government shutdown... at the cost of suspending new funding for Ukraine.What will be their impact on Kyiv? And what is Europe's plan if a small but determined bloc of far-right isolationists in Washington can ride the wave of a return to power of Donald Trump in 2024?After a summer where the frontline barely budged, it's clear that this war is set to last.But can Ukraine count on NATO and Europe for what lies ahead?Produced by Charles Wente, Josephine Joly and Imen Mellaz.

As France, Italy and others wonder if the working-class voters who now vote far right will ever return to the left, the sight of a US president walking a picket line in support of striking auto workers certainly grabbed headlines here. We ask about Joe Biden's embrace of his blue-collar roots and his open support for trade unions, often seen as an endangered species on both sides of the Atlantic.  Biden was in Michigan one day before Donald Trump's own pitch to auto workers, albeit at a non-union plant outside Detroit. It was so-called Reagan Democrats who switched allegiances in 2016 to put Trump over the line in key Midwest Rust Belt states. What's the message they want to hear in 2024?More broadly, what does the US want? Four decades after Reagan busted unions and said government was the problem, what to make of high-profile strikes everywhere from the auto industry to Hollywood? Will regulation and the role of government in guaranteeing a social safety net be on the ballot in these uncertain post-Covid times?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

There's no need to look as far as Russian troll farms for disinformation and smear campaigns. Too often, it starts at our local schoolyard and ends with tragic consequences. The French are grappling with yet another teen suicide at the start of this school year. Bullying and hazing are as old as humanity. But to many, it feels like there is a post-pandemic epidemic. Is that perception or reality? And what is being done about it? We review new measures unveiled by the French government and shock moves like the deployment of last week of police to a Paris-area classroom to cuff a suspected teen offender. Read moreFrench parents want to take TikTok to court following daughter's suicideWe also ask how educators and authorities are coping elsewhere, in a world where the bullying is now broadcast at the speed of light over social media. What should regulators do to stop the publication of poison? How do pupils themselves cope between the digital world and its real-life consequences?Produced by Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

Are we witnessing the final act in a decades-old conflict, or the start of a new chapter of hardship and strife? Ethnic Armenians are fleeing Nagorno-Karabakh by the thousands after last week's lightning-fast capture of that enclave. They are dismissing guarantees for their safety by Azerbaijan's president, in part because of a long history of bloodshed and ethnic cleansing by both sides. Ethnic Armenians are also wary of Ilham Aliyev's choice of company and location for that offer of reassurance: Azerbaijan's own enclave inside Armenia, Nakhchivan. Baku has a backer: Turkey and its leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The pair were in Nakhchivan for talks on Monday. With traditional mediator Russia showing the cold shoulder these days to Yerevan, what are the prospects for EU-sponsored talks and, more broadly, for a peace that can last?Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Imen Mellaz.

Remember France's "red line" following Niger’s coup in July? It has now faded. France is reneging on its August refusal to pull its ambassador from Niamey, and now French soldiers are packing their bags after having also left Mali and Burkina Faso. West African states have gone quiet on their initial threat to intervene. So what's next for Niger, its people and its president, still under house arrest after being toppled in a putsch that seems more about vested interests than national security? What about the United States, which also has troops stationed there as part of anti-terror efforts in the wider Sahel region?For France, this is surely a moment of reckoning. Its first president born after former colonies gained their independence has had to grapple with a growing hostility on the continent, much more than other former colonial powers Britain and Portugal. Why? Is it justified? What’s the remedy? Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

Does Volodymyr Zelensky still have that magic touch? The plucky leader who emerged on the world stage as the face of Ukraine’s David-versus-Goliath struggle against Russia is back in Washington to lobby for support after a showdown with the invader at the UN in New York. But this time, the headwinds seem to be getting stronger. As the US approaches an election year, isolationists in the Republican party this week blocked a major defence spending bill. Enter neighbouring Poland, which votes next month in a general election. Warsaw is one of Ukraine’s biggest backers… to a point. The Polish prime minister announced a halt to weapons exports amid a pre-election row over cheap Ukrainian grain exports. Is this simply political grandstanding, or proof that NATO and Europe's unwavering support is no longer so unwavering? After a spring counteroffensive that's turned to summer and now fall, time certainly seems to be on Vladimir Putin's side as Ukraine's adversary digs in for the long haul. As the carpet bombing of cities continues, as the casualties mount, what is Zelensky's plan? Produced by Juliette Laurain, Imen Mellaz and Lauren Bain.

Separatists in the Armenian enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh have agreed to lay down their weapons on Day 2 of what may be remembered as a tale in three acts: Azerbaijan's drone-powered win on the battlefield in 2020, the months-long blockade of the only land corridor into the enclave and finally, Tuesday's sudden offensive by Baku.  We ask about the protests in Armenia's capital Yerevan against the government of the losing side and about Russia, which failed in its peacekeeping role. What happens now? To the enclave and to civilians on both sides?It's a shock to see the potential end of a seemingly endless conflict: the first fighting over Nagorno-Karabakh erupted when rival neighbours were still part of the Soviet Union. Why is it coming to a head now? How do events reshape the balance of power in the Caucasus and beyond?Produced by Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

Did India order last June's hit on a prominent Sikh activist outside Vancouver? Canada thinks so. Justin Trudeau’s public airing of his spy services’ suspicions prompting tit for tat expulsions of diplomats in Delhi and Ottawa. We ask about the killing of Hardeep Singh Nijjar and more broadly the politics at play for a religious minority of 25 million - most of them in India, with a strong voice in both countries and views that range from moderate to hardline separatist.

After an all-too-avoidable calamity, how to assist survivors from Libya’s dam bursts without lining the pockets of those who failed? As the UN estimates the death toll from the Derna disaster at 4,000 killed and another 9,000 missing, we ask about the years of neglect, the unheeded warning signs that Storm Daniel was coming, and in a nation effectively split in two, how channeling relief for the tragedy might in fact help the strongman who controls eastern Libya.

Mitt Romney is retiring from US politics with a message for the old guard: the former presidential contender says it is time for a new generation of political leaders. Romney had both Joe Biden and Donald Trump in his sights with this statement, but also a lengthy list of other ageing representatives and senators.  

It's 30 years since the first Oslo accord - a move that was touted as unprecendented for peace in the Middle East.

Flooding, brought by Storm Daniel, has pushed a divided nation to the limit with alarming levels of death and destruction. Badly battered by the storm, the coastal city of Derna is now underwater after the storm caused a dam there to burst. Other cities along Libya’s eastern coast such as Susah, Marj and Benghazi are all badly flooded. More than 2,300 have died while some 10,000 remain unaccounted for, numbers published by the Red Crescent show.   

Our programme is dedicated to the people of Morocco in mouring right now for the more than 2,000 people killed in the earthquake. We examine what happened, why it has proved so devastating and looking at the effort to rescue, recover and get aid to those in need. The epicentre of the quake is near to the famous city of Marrakech. And much of the area worst affected is high in the Atlas mountain range. 

It’s India’s moment. New Delhi welcomes the world for the G20 summit at a time of unprecedented clout on the world stage. From its rivalry with China and its ever-warming ties with the United States to its calculated neutrality on Russia and its stated aim to champion the global south, what kind of a difference will the world’s most populous nation and its populist leader make going forward?

Which way for India and its democracy? As Hindu nationalist prime minister Narendra Modi welcomes the world for the G20 summit, he’s basking in the glow of a decade of development. But at what cost? From poverty reduction and digitalization to bitter identity politics and curbs on civil liberties, François Picard’s panel offers differing perspectives on a pivotal moment for both the nation and the model it represents for the rest of the world.

African nations reached a consensus on climate change action as the first Africa Climate Summit drew to a close on Wednesday in Nairobi, Kenya. Hosted by President William Ruto, African leaders discussed how to harness the continent's potential to tackle global warming.

Ukraine is fighting a war against an invader, Russia. But also against a problem considered endemic within its own borders.Corruption has long been an enemy within for Ukraine: one of the principle criticisms of the country when it comes to candidate status for, for example, the European Union. 

France's 12 million pupils are back at school after the summer break. In a nation that prides itself on its state education system, hot topics include a lack of teachers, exam reform, the skyrocketing cost of supplies for parents and how to tackle bullying. But the education ministry's ban on the abaya, the loose-fitting dress worn by some women in Muslim countries, dominated headlines in the buildup to this first Monday of September.

How a scandal can steal the spotlight from a remarkable achievement. When the Spanish women won the World Cup on August 20, they would have been forgiven for thinking their names would be making headlines for weeks, months or even years. That is the case, but now because of the scandal over the unwanted, unsolicited kiss that was forced on star player Jenni Hermoso by the head of the Spanish Football Association, Luis Rubiales. What does this scandal say about the casual sexism in sport and more broadly, the sinister attitude of men who abuse their power in this way?

Soldiers in the pre-dawn hours popping up on television to announce they’d overthrown Ali Bongo just one hour after just as suddenly election results in the dead of night gave Bongo a third term in office. We’ll ask about the latest, who’s in charge in Libreville. 

After Guinea, Mali and Burkina Faso, this time it feels like it's personal. France's president took on all-comers in his annual address on Monday to his ambassadors in Paris: insisting his man in Niamey is staying put, defying an ultimatum from Niger's coup leaders and ruing what Emmanuel Macron sees as wavering on the part of European and US allies. 

Will Wagner outlive its founder? Russian authorities confirming the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin and his number two in the downing of their private jet on a flight to his native Saint Petersburg. We’ll ask about the downing of the plane on the two-month anniversary of his aborted march on Moscow and the thousands of irregulars on three continents that still answer to the private military company.

India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Paris this Thursday for a special visit. Modi is the guest of honour at the July 14 military parade on the Champs-Élysées, but his visit is also expected to deepen ties with New Delhi's oldest strategic partner in the West, with a deal worth over €5 billion for India to take delivery of 26 French Rafale fighter jets. In terms of geostrategy there is much to discuss – Macron was put out at India's hesitation in condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and questions remain about India's stance towards China.Modi is perhaps seeking to see the lay of the land first, rather than take the high-handed position of a more established world power.India, after all, has a lot of shared experience with Russia and China as part of the BRICS trading bloc. Is this a new recalibration of world powers?Produced by Charles Wente, Josephine Joly and Imen Mellaz.

US President Joe Biden laid out his vision in Vilnius and threw down the gauntlet to his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, who is now further isolated by a NATO summit that strengthens the Alliance at Russia's border. That summit came in the wake of wavering Russian support for Putin's Ukraine campaign.

NATO is no longer brain dead. Emmanuel Macron, who authored that quip back in 2019, can thank Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion of Ukraine for that. But now that it's back to its original mission of containing Russia, can the Alliance keep up? Kyiv haas made it clear – if the organisation provides the weapons, Ukrainian soldiers will do the fighting. But Ukraine lacks the ammunition and air superiority needed for a quick kill in a counteroffensive that’s up against greater Russian manpower and solid trenches.For Ukrainians, it’s life or death. But for NATO, is there the same sense of urgency?The Alliance was founded four years after the end of World War II, when it quickly became clear that victorious allies were no longer allies but nuclear-armed rivals. The likes of France and Germany have recently boosted defence spending by multiples unseen since the Cold War. But are Europeans and Americans ready for the long haul and an industrial-scale war effort over years; deterrence that in a crisis could mean putting soldiers in harm's way?Produced by Charles Wente, Josephine Joly and Imen Mellaz.

Too old, too out of touch, gaffe-prone – the president of the United States has his critics. But has Russia's invasion of Ukraine put 80-year-old Joe Biden back in the saddle? The veteran Cold warrior sat down with the new British king on Monday, before flying to the NATO summit, where Washington's all-in attitude has been crucial for Kyiv and has put US might back at the heart of Europe's defence strategy.

News junkies can be forgiven for not having heard of gallium and germanium until now. That's all about to change. If our growing general knowledge of the periodic table seemed timed with the visit to Beijing of the US Treasury Secretary, that's because China is announcing controls on exports of key rare minerals that only it produces; minerals essential for microchips as well as electric vehicles and fibre-optic cables.

It's an easy way to get clicks when the world's richest man challenges the ninth richest to a cage fight. But it's actually win-win for them if the owner of Twitter and the founder of Facebook have us debating whether we are Team Musk or Team Zuckerberg, instead of the outsized power the pair enjoy thanks to the concentration of popular, mostly unregulated social media platforms in the hands of a few. 

It's almost as if it never happened. The unrivalled master of the Kremlin for 23 years has emerged from a moment of wavering with the leader of an aborted march on Moscow now sidelined and forced abroad, Russian troops on the frontlines in Ukraine who continue to hold their own and a public opinion that's either staying out of it or still squarely behind Vladimir Putin.

From the anger over a police shooting and its attempted cover-up to the riots and destruction that have left a local mayor’s wife in hospital, has the violence now drowned out the legitimate outrage over what sparked it?There is no justification for looting and destruction nor for the targeting of law enforcement with firecrackers. Why are so many of those in the street so young? Was the escalation avoidable? We will ask about the state's response. 

It's about policing and France's unresolved issues with its banlieues, its working-class suburbs.After two nights of rioting, the battle lines drawn over Tuesday's police shooting of Nael, the 17-year old who tried to flee the scene in Nanterre west of Paris. One officer faces potential murder charges. The fact that he is even in custody's a rarity in a country.

A continent away from the Kremlin, a host of African strongmen are now waiting for the chips to fall in Moscow. Russia's foreign minister took to the airwaves on Monday to immediately insist that it's business as usual for the Wagner Group's ties to the continent. Why the haste? It turns out Yevgeny Prigozhin's outfit is much more than guns for hire: it's influence and a cash cow.

What is a wounded bear to do? Good luck deducing Vladimir Putin’s next move as he sort of returns to the public eye in the wake of Saturday’s aborted march on Moscow by Yevgeny Prigozhin’s irregulars. What are the master of the Kremlin’s true intentions? With Belarus' president now claiming that he is hosting the Wagner Group mercenaries boss, we ask what the real deal is and what it means for Ukraine and a leader who has made a point of staying in the public eye.

Hailed as a hero as he departed, Yevgeny Prighozin filing out of Rostov-on-Don Saturday evening with his Wagner mercenaries. Fourty-eight hours later, the question still begs: What just happened? What prompted Yevgeny Prigozhin’s march on Moscow and its abrupt halt? We chart the current whereabouts of the Wagner group leader and that of the master of the Kremlin.

Joe Biden is rolling out the red carpet and more for India's prime minister. The halls are decked for Narendra Modi's first White House state banquet. It's just one illustration of how much clout a diaspora of four-and-a-half million carries in the United States and of how strategic India has become in superpower showdowns.

$400 billion is how much the World Bank estimates could be needed to rebuild Ukraine. Today Ukraine's allies at a major conference in London did promise significant chunks of cash, not just for the war effort but for Ukraine's reconstruction. With the conflict still raging and the counteroffensive to retake occupied territory just getting underway: Is now the right time for a Marshall Plan for Ukraine?

There's been no sign of life since Sunday. It would be wrong to entertain false hopes for the five crew and passengers who plunged into the North Atlantic aboard a small tourist sub to explore the wreck of the Titanic. We ask about the massive search-and-rescue effort and see why it would be a miracle if those inside the Titan live to tell the tale.

Could it really spiral out of control? Increasingly militarized standoffs in the Pacific just part of the picture as Blinken became the highest-ranking US official to visit Beijing in five years. A trip pushed back at the start of the year when a Chinese spy balloon was shot out of the sky over US territory. Are the tensions about Taiwan or trade? Both, if you consider that more than half of the world’s semi-conductors are manufactured by Taipei and that Beijing remains the world’s factory.

His legacy stretches beyond Italian borders and well beyond European borders. A state funeral has been held for Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's longest-serving post-war leader who passed away on Monday aged 86. Inside, the high and mighty packed Milan's Duomo Cathedral, while outside pressed Forza Italia loyalists and fans of AC Milan and Monza, the football clubs he owned.

Donald Trump in a court of law is nothing new – two months after New York City charged the former US president with felony business fraud, federal prosecutors in Miami are now accusing Trump of stashing and concealing classified documents that contain nuclear and military secrets at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida after he left office in 2021.

The frontline dam burst that flooded southern Ukraine is a nightmare scenario come true. Who stands to gain from the catastrophe? Also, the nightmare scenario for the planet: Canadian forest fires follow freak spring droughts. The smog is  choking North America and sending smoke to Europe, and it's only early June.

Are the United States and Saudi Arabia quietly drawing closer? It’s been nearly a year since we were in Jeddah covering that frosty fist bump between Joe Biden and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Critics had been quick to evoke memories of 9/11, the brutal war in Yemen and the murder of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, while Biden's hosts were irked by what they view as patronising lecturing on how to run a kingdom.

It’s a worst nightmare come true. How big a catastrophe?Whether it’s sabotage or carelessness to blame for the bursting of the Russian-held Nova Khakova dam, the livelihoods of tens of thousands downstream have been washed away in an instant.

Two female journalists are on trial in Iran. They face charges of spying and working for foreign intelligence. Their crime cold perhaps best be described here in the west as as good old fashioned journalistic coup.They revealed the truth about a story and dared to publish it. The stroy was the death in police custody of a 22 year old Kurdish woman.

Uganda's legislation that outlaws indentifying as LGBTQ is receiving widespread condemnation. US president Joe Biden has spoken out to describe the new law as shameful. Biden, who is himself a practising Roman Catholic, a religion that says homosexuality is a sin, says Uganda's new legislation could very well harm US-Uganda relations. Before Biden's words were uttered, the law had been condemned by the United Nations as the "worst of its kind in the world."

Recep Tayyip Erdogan wins an extension of his more than  two decades in power in Turkish presidential election.An election that veered to the hard right still leaves unanswered questions on the economy, the earthquake response, corruption and the plight of Syrian migrants.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says his company could "cease operating in Europe if the EU gets too tough". Altman is currently in Europe, visiting Paris after London. When he was called before Congress last week in Washington to talk about the same issue of regulating artificial intelligence, Altman made three proposals: a federal agency to control licences; safety standards for high-capability AI models; independent audits of creators.

There is the age-old question, what makes someone want to run for President. And then, there is the question of how the candidate announces. It can be at a rally, in a newspaper, a television interview. French Socialist Lionel Jospin launched his ill-fated 2002 run via a fax sent to the AFP news agency. Florida governor Ron DeSantis opting for Twitter. Not a tweet but a live discussion hosted by none other than the boss of said social media. Elon Musk insists the event does not constitute an endorsement on his part. But if the medium is the message, then what does this launch say about the candidate and the times we live in?

Were often asking if Russia's invasion of Ukraine can lead to some kind of world war. But what if global conflict creeps up on us from a different quarter? Infuriated by what it portrayed as an "anti-China" G7 summit, Beijing has now made good on its threat to ban the US's biggest memory chipmaker, Micron. The move was expected, one might argue, after the West's growing restrictions on Chinese tech brands that include the likes of Huawei and TikTok. Is this a fight for market share disguised as a battle of values? Or is technology the battleground of national security in the Information Age?

How many lives lost so far in Bakhmut? Why?

This time, it’s an out-of-competition opening night film lighting the spark.

A turning point for Thailand or will the military-backed elites quickly call time on reform? High turnout in Sunday’s general election delivering an unprecedented result with Pita Limjaroenrat’s Move Forward party topping the populist Pheu Thai of Paethongtarn Shinawatra, the pair blowing away the United Thai National Party of the outgoing prime minister, former coup leader Prayuth Chen-Ocha.

Turkey's leader of 20 years has done it again. Recep Tayyip Erdogan magnanimously told supporters to respect a result that forces a first ever run-off for president. But Erdogan's supporters can cheer: with 49.5% of Sunday's vote, his lead seems all but insurmountable. We ask why predictions underestimated fierce loyalty to Erdogan, particularly in conservative strongholds of the Islamist-rooted AK Party. What do the results say about the direction Turkey seeks?

Could an eleventh-hour surprise swing Sunday's elections in Turkey? After two decades in power, it was always going to be close as Recep Tayyip Erdogan faces a mostly-united opposition. Still, the charismatic leader of the Islamist-rooted AK Party controls all the levers of power and commands a loyal following. Now, three days out, comes the shock withdrawal of third-party candidate Muharrem Ince. With a niche following among younger voters, we ask if it's a game changer. Could the opposition score a first-round knockout against the incumbent?

For the second year running, Moscow's Victory Day commemorations have been staged as war rages. Vladimir Putin's message at the military parade in Red Square was that we are in it for the long haul. The day began with Russian missiles raining down on Ukraine's capital Kyiv. We hear from a Russian president who claims a "real war" has been unleashed against his country. Is that how ordinary Russian citizens see it? As sanctions bite and the body count rises, will enthusiasm wax or wane?

Saudi Arabia’s crown prince is mending fences with Syria and Iran, soothing rivalries with Gulf rivals and now welcoming the Biden administration’s point man on security to Jeddah.

There is the outrage and the timing of the outrage. Russia's state media is in overdrive after the purported downing of two drones over the Kremlin, just days before the May 9th Victory Day parade on Red Square.

Two years and one World Cup after hosts Qatar bought the greatest footballer of our time, Lionel Messi is leaving Paris Saint-Germain. But perhaps the Argentinian player is already gone. We discuss Messi's suspension for taking an unannounced late-season jaunt to 2030 World Cup candidate Saudi Arabia.

Third week in and counting, and if the international community secretly hoped it could stay out of the crisis, and that maybe one of Sudan’s warring generals could settle their long-simmering rivalry with a quick blow, it is now time to face reality.

The first day of May marks International Workers' Day, with marches and demonstrations erupting across the world in recognition of everyone who works hard for a living. In France, Labour Day is referred to as "La Fête du Travail", and this specific May Day falls in the middle of strikes and industrial action following the most controversial reform in decades.

Don't be fooled by tenuous truces. Nearly two weeks on in Sudan, with no clear winner in sight, the personal power play between rival generals shows all the signs that it could spiral into all-out civil war. Residents are desperately trying to leave the capital Khartoum. Tens of thousands have also fled the Darfur region for neighbouring Chad, as armed factions choose sides while local rivalries and banditry flare up. How to stop the spiral? Who to stop it?

As  President Joe Biden announced he is tossing his hat in the ring for a second term, we'll  ask about his fitness for the job. Is he up for the task to once again be the most powerful person in the world? More broadly, is U.S. politics skewed towards seniority? Is it a misperception that the baby boomer generation born before 1965 continues to hold a lock on power?    Produced by François Picard, Andrew Hilliar and Clemence Waller

Which Lula is it this week? In Lisbon, Brazil’s president charmed his hosts in a speech before the Portuguese parliament to mark nearly half a century since the Carnation Revolution that ended the dictatorship there. Lula had raised eyebrows with his recent visit to China, where he accused the US of "encouraging" the war in Ukraine, and then with last week's warm welcome for Russia's foreign minister. 

A loose cannon or did China’s ambassador to France just test the waters for a more offensive posture on Ukraine? Lu Shaye has made headlines before, most notably with his wolf warrior calls to order over Taiwan. Now come his latest comments questioning not only Ukraine’s sovereignty over Crimea, but the very legitimacy of the 14 independent States that peeled off from Russia when the Soviet Union collapsed. The embassy claims he was speaking only for himself.

No ceasefire in sight. Does it mean civil war? Sudan caught since last Saturday in the crossfire of an argument between top brass. Neither junta leader Abdel Fattah al-Buhran nor his nominal number two Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo seem ready to listen to outside mediation attempts. The longer the death match continues, the greater the risk that armed factions at home and abroad get drawn in. 

A significant settlement or a slap on the wrist? Those hoping to see media mogul Rupert Murdoch take the stand will be disappointed by news of a $787 million settlement with Dominion, which sued Murdoch's Fox News over repeated false claims that its voting machines rigged the 2020 elections for Joe Biden against Donald Trump.

What do the French want –  a leader who respects the will of the people or one that gets things done?

How to stop Sudan from descending into an all-out civil war? Civilians are caught in the crossfire of a lethal dispute between coup leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his number two, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti. Stray bullets and aerial bombardments are currently pinning down citizens in the capital and other major cities.

Loose lips sink ships, read the poster during World War Two. The U.S. government was then urging citizens to refrain from sharing what might even seem like benign information to the untrained ear.

A nostalgia tour or a chance to consolidate the peace in Northern Ireland? On the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that ended decades of what was effectively sectarian civil war in an impoverished corner of Europe, a US president who is proud of his Irish Catholic heritage returns, but for less than a day in the north. Joe Biden does not want to appear to be endorsing the current gridlock in Belfast's power-sharing assembly. Twenty-five years on, peace is still a work in progress. 

Surely Ukraine’s not the prelude. As Emmanuel Macron was departing Guangzhou, Chinese warships were cruising towards the Taiwan straits. We ask about the three-day show of force staged as a show of displeasure with last week’s visit by the Taiwanese president to California and the US Navy destroyer now dispatched to what China claims are its territorial waters.

The French president has landed in Beijing for his first post-Covid visit. Emmanuel Macron is accompanied by the European Commission president, who last week went on the offensive over unfair trade practices and Chinese backing of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Will Ursula von der Leyen speak for other recent EU visitors?

Justice may be blind, but can it block out the noise? Somewhere between spectacle and tribal rage comes the first-ever criminal indictment of a president of the United States. There are Donald Trump’s supporters energised for his return to New York City and the glee of detractors, with both sides using the hashtag #TrumpMugShot on Twitter. We ask about the media circus.

Are those sanctions starting to bite? On the surface, it's business as usual for a Russia that on Saturday took over the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council and still enjoys plenty of support from the likes of China. But last week, President Vladimir Putin for the first time told his cabinet to expect trouble ahead. 

Maybe we are not as smart as we think we are. We thought technology would set us free, liberate us from menial tasks, democratise access to information and knowledge. We marvelled at our ability to connect instantaneously to whoever, wherever, whenever. We even fell for the illusion that each one of us is our own brand with a global reach. But beyond the way the digital age plays tricks on the human mind comes an even bigger threat. 

"They cannot continue down this road." Joe Biden's blunt talk on Israel ended speculation that the US president would reward Benjamin Netanayhu with a White House visit, this after the prime minister paused his controversial overhaul of the judiciary. It's not the first time that Biden has crossed swords with Netanyahu, whose own son – without proof – accuses Washington of fomenting the mass protests against the reform.

It's a moment of truth for Israel and its democracy. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has announced he will pause the second and third readings of a contentious judicial reform bill that has seen hundreds of thousands of Israelis take to the streets for months. So what happens next?

If a Manhattan grand jury hands up a criminal indictment against Donald Trump, that will make him the first US president – sitting or former – to face felony charges. We ask about the case of alleged hush money paid to former porn star Stormy Daniels and whether fingerprinting and a possible perp walk for the cameras helps or hurts Trump's chances in the race for 2024.

"In love, there is always one who kisses, and one who offers the cheek." That French proverb was borrowed by Winston Churchill's daughter to describe the British prime minister's relationship during World War II with US president Franklin D. Roosevelt. When observing the optics of Xi Jinping's three-day state visit to Moscow, we ask about the stakes of the first trip to Russia by China's president since Vladimir Putin's decision to launch an all-out invasion of Ukraine.

A nation is up in arms, but Emmanuel Macron still fancies his chances. By turning the passage of a highly unpopular pension reform bill into a vote of confidence, the French president convinced enough conservatives to avoid bringing down the government. But it was close, with PM Élisabeth Borne's government clinging on by just nine votes. We ask about the lasting impact on the rest of Macron's term-limited four years in office. 

French President Emmanuel Macron has got his pension reform out of the way early in his second term, but at what cost? His prime minister has triggered a vote of no-confidence rather than holding a straight up-and-down vote on the bill itself. How will the railroading through parliament of a plan that's sparked France's biggest strikes and demonstrations in years test the legitimacy of a term-limited president and his minority government in future dealings with the unions and lawmakers? 

Are banks going bad again? Markets are scrambling to contain the shockwaves from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, a California lending institution favoured by tech startups. Its seemingly safe bet on government bonds proved a bust, triggering an old-fashioned run on the bank. Is it contagious? The bank's failure marks the first major default since rising interest rates signalled the end of decades of cheap money. The 2008 financial crisis triggered a return of regulation, forcing big banks to keep more reserves in the vault. But was it enough?

Street protests have forced Georgia’s parliament to back down on a bill aimed at making groups with overseas funding register as foreign agents. Critics say it's a mimic of the law that’s on the books in Russia. We ask about a Georgian government that's on paper pro-European, but whose main backer first made his fortune in Russia. Why did lawmakers give in? What next for Georgia?

France is growing older. However, Europe's record-breaking life expectancy has a downside: in order to pay for its increasingly healthy legion of retirees, the French right wing says there's no other option but to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. The left retorts that if corporations paid their fair share in taxes, that would more than sustain the country's cherished pay-as-you-go pension system. Ahead of what unions are billing as their biggest strikes yet against the government's pension reform, what exactly does the future hold for workers?

This week has seen yet another brutal cycle of violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank. It is a story you may well feel you have heard before: a Palestinian attack on Israeli civilians, and a response described as disproportionate or even collective punishment.

Will Nigeria's two-party system tremble? Africa's most populous nation has known its share of bruising campaigns, but never since the 1999 return to democracy has there been a run-off in the presidential election. Now, in a nation where the average age is 18, could voters turn away from big tent parties and candidates who are both in their seventies?