The Debate

Will history remember this as the day the planet started to rein in big tech? Australia is firing the first shot by banning under-16s from platforms and social media that include giants such as Instagram, YouTube and TikTok. We of course ask if rebellious teens will make light work of the ban. More broadly, is this the day regulators start treating merchants of scrolling the way they do tobacco and drinks giants: like businesses with a penchant for encouraging addiction? In tech, profits can be measured in data – often our personal data – and traffic. The longer users stay engaged, the more can be billed to advertisers – any advertisers, even scammers.  A report back in June by Reuters found that Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, made a whopping 10 percent of its revenue from scammers in 2024 – scammers that sometimes use forced labour to cultivate potential victims.  We ask about the will to crack down on cyber crime and, more broadly, to regulate a "views at all costs" business model, especially when big tech is so beholden to American billionaire tech bros – who certainly have a friend in Washington these days. Produced by François Picard, Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati, Ilayda Habip & Jean-Vincent Russo

Europe is weighing its words after Washington's publication of an official policy paper that warns the Old Continent is under threat of "civilisational erasure", with fading powers overrun by migrants. It’s the logical follow-up to Vice President JD Vance's admonishments back in February at the Munich Security Conference, one that goes far beyond the unexplained absence of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at last week's NATO foreign ministers' meeting. Read more'They're decaying': Trump recycles far-right tropes about European decline Are we seeing an irrational about-face on historical ties with the continent, or is the real outlier the last 80 years, when Washington took it upon itself to ensure Europe's defence in the name of fighting Soviet expansion? Before that, the US was a much more isolationist nation.  Our panel scrutinises the premise that Europe is in economic and moral decline, how it's adapting to this wild swing in superpower alliances and whether it's got what it takes to fend for itself.  Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Ilayda Habip.

It was exactly one year ago that a lightning offensive reached its ultimate conclusion. Syria saw the fall of Bashar al-Assad, ending over five decades of his family's dictatorial regime in a blitz that stunned the world. In Damascus, celebrations erupted in Umayyad Square, as Syrians emerged from 13 years of brutal civil war, marking a moment of both relief and disbelief. In the chaos that followed, Assad fled to Moscow and former jihadist Ahmed al-Sharaa, now the interim president, took the reins. His charm offensive has seen him meet with world leaders and even speak at the United Nations, presenting a new face of Syria. However, the year since has been fraught with challenges. Sectarian violence in Latakia and Tartous, skirmishes in the south, bombings in Damascus and tensions with Kurdish forces in the northeast have all threatened stability. While Syrians begin returning to a country unrecognisable from its former self, questions remain: Can Syria rebuild? What will become of its minorities? Have we seen enough in terms of transitional justice? And with an economy still in tatters, can the country recover from the horrors of the past? Produced by Théophille Vareille, Elisa Amiri, Riham Mahir.

When should a soldier disobey an order? The US president and his Pentagon chief are doubling down on operations to sink alleged drug boats without summation in the Caribbean and the Pacific. The pair pushed back on a Washington Post report asserting that back in September, Pete Hegseth's orders led to a follow-up strike on a vessel, killing all remaining survivors. Among the issues are whether the interested parties could face war crimes charges. US War Department footage can make this look like a video game, but there are real human beings assassinated in these images – without trial, without warning. Already the family of one Colombian fisherman killed in September has launched legal action. Are these war crimes? And is this a war? Drug cartels are criminal syndicates, not nation states or insurgencies. On that score, Donald Trump's war on drugs is hard to read. Between pinning the blame on Venezuela's leader and pardoning Honduras's former president, who was actually serving time in the US for cocaine trafficking, what's Washington’s campaign in the Americas really all about? Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Daniel Whittington, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.

A peace plan allegedly made in Moscow, a week of furious scrambling to dial it back by Ukraine and its European allies and now it's back to the Kremlin for Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, flanked only by the US president's son-in-law Jared Kushner and an interpreter. Have negotiations in Florida moved the needle back in Kyiv's favor? How hard – or soft – can the bargaining be? Is Witkoff really Putin's puppet, as suggested last week by French newspaper Libération? Beyond last week's leaks that saw the political novice coaching the Russians on how to handle Trump, can this friend of the US president from his New York real estate days make something of the current White House's "art of the deal" approach to trading war for commercial ventures? Read morePutin accuses Europeans of sabotaging peace efforts ahead of US talks on Ukraine With facts on the ground slowly swinging in Moscow's favour, what's Russia's incentive to compromise when it's pounding critical infrastructure nightly and now claims to have taken the key eastern city of Pokrovsk after an 18-month siege? What say allies, what with Putin talking deals with Washington while serving up fresh threats of war against Europe? Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.

Why is Nigeria in the throes of a kidnapping epidemic? Sometimes depicted as terrorists, other times as bandits, attackers have targeted three schools inside of a week, leading some to compare the abductions with the 2014 Chibok attacks by the jihadists of Boko Haram. We do our comparison and revisit the same question as a decade ago – why would any human being abduct children; in some cases nursery school children? It's an ordeal for the victims and their families, and bad timing for Africa's most populous nation, what with the Trump administration threatening military intervention over what it calls genocide against Christians. How does the government of Bola Tinubu handle the sudden pressure from the Evangelical right in Washington? Watch moreWhat's behind Nigeria's mass kidnapping and security crisis? More broadly, how to address insecurity in Nigeria, a nation where locals feel abandoned by the state and some instances feel they have to choose between mounting their own vigilante self-defence groups and striking deals to allow their attackers grazing rights for cattle and access to water? The third option is fleeing for good from the impoverished north. But with what consequences? Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that France is to reintroduce a national military service. Young people will be taken into the military, trained for a period of around a year and paid €800 a month. The programme will be open to all, and voluntary.  Macron made this historic announcement at an army barracks in the Isère region, surrounded by young people already in uniform. The reason for this reintroduction of military service, according to the French president, is clear: the growing threat from Russia. Is Macron's decision a necessary one, or a worrying step towards sending France's youth to fight? Produced by Mark Owen, Rebecca Gnignati, Charles Wente, Ilayda Habip & Jean-Vincent Russo

The peace plan that read like it had been written by the Kremlin and that called for Ukraine to surrender land, cut back its military and give up any notion of NATO membership was already raising worried eyebrows. Now, in light of a recorded phone call between US envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian presidential advisor Yuri Ushakov, the concern about the closeness of the Trump administration to Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin has hit a new point of alarm. Is this the art of the deal, or a sellout? Produced by Mark Owen, Rebecca Gnignati, Charles Wente, Ilayda Habip & Jean-Vincent Russo

Every 10 minutes last year, a woman somewhere in the world was killed by a person close to her, while some 50,000 women and girls were killed by intimate partners or family members in 2024. These figures have been released by the UN as we mark the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls. But how do we get the message across that violence against women and girls is a men's issue; particularly as the rise of AI has intensified digital abuse directed at women? Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Lila Paulou, Ilayda Habip, Annette Young and Charles Wente.

This Monday, the US and Ukraine pressed on with talks in Switzerland to come up with a mutually acceptable peace plan. This after agreeing to modify a US proposal that Kyiv and its European allies saw as a Kremlin wish list. The 28-point draft plan includes several long-standing Russian demands, crossing Kyiv’s established red lines and overlooking key European security concerns. Is this plan the basis for a genuine peace deal or destined for failure? Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Lila Paulou, Ilayda Habip, Annette Young and Charles Wente.

Ukraine is facing yet another major challenge in its fight to preserve its borders, its land and its people. The military battle continues as it has since 2014, intensifying sharply in 2022. The latest challenge is the emergence of a new US-Russia framework to end the war – a proposal that has left observers perplexed and many Ukrainians stunned. The plan appears to pressure Ukraine into giving up territory, surrendering arms and downsize its armed forces to placate Vladimir Putin's Russia. It would also reportedly impose cultural concessions, including the suppression of the Ukrainian language in favour of Russian. Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s close adviser on global affairs, met with Putin aide Kiril Dmitriev in Miami last month to discuss the plan. Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Ilayda Habip.

Ever since he first ran for president in 2015, Donald Trump has claimed that to “drain the swamp”, America needs a leader who knows where “the bodies are buried” in the corrupt circles of Wall Street and Washington.  So why has the MAGA base turned against him over the Epstein files? Why is it so difficult for Trump – who has already survived allegations of inciting an insurrection, undermining the Constitution and facing multiple criminal charges – to make this story go away? Produced by Rebecca Gnignati, Elisa Amiri, Juliette Brown.

As the Middle East undergoes a once-in-a-generation shift in political fault lines, great power diplomacy could make the difference for millions between peace and stability or turbulence and endless conflict. So what's driving that diplomacy? Between the US and Saudi Arabia, it's a confusing mix of bilateral security ties, regional reach-outs to the likes of Syria and Israel and personal enrichment. We ask about the Trump family's longstanding ties to the kingdom, as well as reports that the US president is about to get a lot richer. That blurring of lines between affairs of state and private investment is just one of the talking points as the Saudi crown prince is welcomed with honours to the White House for the first time since the 2018 murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The same Mohammed bin Salman who back then threw his weight around domestically and on the world stage has mended fences with Iran, wound down his country's involvement in Yemen’s brutal civil war and more recently brokered a breaking of the ice with Syria’s new masters. How all-in is Saudi Arabia, a nation whose role is key in guaranteeing that US efforts to end the fighting in Gaza ensure a better future for Palestinians, as agreed in Monday's UN vote which endorsed the Trump plan? For a US president who campaigned against forever wars, will this visit by MBS help him keep that pledge – or keep the United States militarily committed to the region for a long, long time? Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Juliette Brown, Charles Wente.

It's much-needed backing from a key ally of Ukraine, along with welcome photo op for a president who's under pressure at home. After a gas deal with Greece, Volodymyr Zelensky is signing a 10-year military pact with France, far from Kyiv where a corruption scandal has brought down two ministers and has the main backer of his 2019 campaign on the run. It's a welcome respite from the political storm back home and a timely morale boost for Ukraine, a nation that needs all the support it can get at a time when the US is scaling back its commitment to the continent, while Russia's advances in the east come with the nightly poundings targeting electricity supply and other critical infrastructure.  What does the deal with France bring? Beyond fighter jet sales, can EU allies band together on defense? And what does a 10-year deal mean when there’s a presidential election here in 18 months, one where the pro-Kremlin far right currently leads in the polls? Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Daniel Whittington, Ilayda Habip & Jean-Vincent Russo

A string of coups and the pushing out of former colonial power France in favour of Russian support haven't stopped insurgents from going from strength throughout the so-called coup belt from Burkina Faso to Niger. We ask about the blockade on Bamako that's made it perilous for fuel delivery trucks to reach the capital of landlocked Mali, and what it would take to repel the JNIM.   Mali has seen this movie before. The French intervened back in 2013, when insurgents tried to take the capital a first time. But that hero's welcome in Timbuktu for then-president François Hollande is now a distant memory. How do Malians take back their own country? What's the alternative to what the jihadists are offering? And what's the spillover effect of potential failed states at the heart of the Sahel for the region, and for Europe? Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.

Could the artificial intelligence boom already be running out of road? We examine the warning signs. To think that three short years ago, the commercial launch of ChatGPT took the world by storm. AI has since sparked a global race for cash, energy resources and data – all to feed the seemingly insatiable appetite of large language model computing systems. With a few US companies dominating the AI race – and a US president who's all-in with billionaires – market watchers worry about investors tempted by the easy money of rising tech stocks at the expense of the entire rest of the economy. Is it a bubble? Is it about to burst? And with what consequences? How should Europe and the rest of the world prepare? More broadly, is AI changing humanity and our world for better – or for worse? Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Charles Wente, Ilayda Habip & Jean-Vincent Russo

From radical insurgent with a $10 million bounty on his head to a red carpet welcome at the White House, the rebranding of Syria's Ahmed al-Sharaa is now complete. The former jihadist has become the first-ever Syrian president invited inside the Oval Office. We ask about the terms and conditions of a visit that surely seals a regional realignment on a scale unseen since the 1979 fall of the Shah of Iran. How much did backers Turkey and Saudi Arabia press for this moment? Where does it leave Israel, who on the same day is getting a visit from the US president's son-in-law Jared Kushner to remind his hosts to play nice with the Turks during phase two of the Gaza peace initiative? Does this all mean that the same Donald Trump who campaigned against foreign interventions will wind up involving the United States more – not less – in the Middle East? And where does it leave Syria, where the US still backs the Kurds in the fight against the Islamic State group and where Christian and Druze minorities have plenty of reason to doubt Sharaa's promise of guaranteeing their safety? More broadly, how soon can the new masters of Damascus deliver a peace dividend to citizens still reeling from decades of dictatorship, corruption and civil war? Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente & Jean-Vincent Russo

When it came to the Amazon, his predecessor was all for "chop, baby, chop". An easy act to follow if you're hosting the world for a climate summit. Since the return of Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, deforestation has continued but drastically slowed in what's by far the world's largest rainforest. But by bringing the United Nations COP30 summit to the Amazonian city of Belem, Lula is also drawing attention to Brazil's broader track record on the environment. The South American powerhouse may boast of an electricity grid that's 90 percent powered by renewables, but last month it also approved drilling for offshore oil across from the mouth of the Amazon River. Lula is defiant, arguing it's all with an eye to financing green investment and funding social programmes for the poor. Is his a balanced approach or a sellout?

One year after a presidential election where Donald Trump swept swing states and secured majorities in both houses of the US Congress, a first test has produced a radically different result. 34-year-old Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani has blown past establishment candidates for mayor of New York, unveiling his transition team this Wednesday. We ask about Mamdani's win and the highest turnout in the city's municipal elections in more than half a century.  Read moreProgressive Democrat Zohran Mamdani wins New York City mayoral race We also ask about wins for more moderate Democrats elsewhere in the US and whether Republicans should worry ahead of next year's Congressional midterms. Donald Trump attributes the setback in part to the fact that he wasn't on the ballot. The US president may have a point: since returning to office, he has monopolised the airwaves. How do the TikTok skills of Zohran Mamdani measure up to the politics of outrage coming from the far right? Will Trump double down on retribution? Will he send federal troops to more cities run by Democrats, including his native New York? More broadly, will democracy in America now grow more polarised, or will the centre eventually hold?

Protesters are fuming at Chinese e-commerce giant Shein electing the French capital as its debut point for a physical in-shop presence. We ask about behemoths that churn out clothes faster than we can scroll, Shein's choice of the iconic Right Bank department store BHV for its launch and how a new controversy fuels the feeling that this global orgy of consumerism is out of control: Shein is removing from its platform child-like sex dolls that fly in the face of French and EU laws against paedo-pornography.  Shein's flooding of the market with ultra-fast fashion, often peddled by social media influencers, is just the latest iteration of an issue with globalisation's conveniences. Supporters say companies like Shein make style affordable to all, but critics see them an existential threat to humanity's craftsmanship, not to mention the environment. Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.