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

2024 begins with conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East that send shockwaves around the world, continues with a scramble for innovation in energy and tech that has 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 globalized trade. Enter France’s term-limited president. We hear what Emmanuel Macron had to say at his first visit to Davos and the World Economic Forum in six years. Caught between the investors they need to court and superpowers China and the United States that seem locked in a tarif and subsidy race, do citizens want an EU that is open for business or manning its borders? A reminder of the challenge ahead of June’s European Elections came Monday when tractors rolled into Berlin. Farmers and truckers both angry at the scrapping of a subsidy on diesel that they say punishes the working classes. With global warming, the green transition’s become a question of national security all around but does it have to increase inequality and force a backlash that favors the far-right?Whether it is green transition or the defence industry, it is all down to the role of the state. The disruption of supply chains in Europe during Covid, Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, they have forced a rethink on when profits come second after 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” DPP. 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.What’s at stake when it comes to Taiwan and US-China relations in this an election year for one side and a time of rapidly slowing growth for the other?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, one island.Taiwan is picking a president and a parliament Saturday amid steadily surging nationalism in mainland China and all the talk of decoupling and derisking by the United States. Who to succeed the pro-West Tsai ing-Weng? How high 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 but that dominates the market on the semiconductors that power the 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 citizens a ride out of Belgorod? The western city across from Ukraine’s Kharkiv 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. And 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 is a race against time.What with financing for Ukraine in limbo and 2024 serving up the chance of Donald Trump returning to power. We ask about Europe’s efforts to ensure its own defense and thwart Putin’s westward march. Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Imen Mellaz.

New year, new face.France's youngest-ever president naming the country's youngest-ever prime minister. We willl ask why Emmanuel Macron chose to replace Elisabeth Borne with Gabriel Attal and chart the meteoric rise of a 34-year old Parisian who has already enjoyed stints as city councilor, party spokesperson, budget minister, government spokesperson and most recently education minister. Of course it is France and with so much power concentrated inside the gates of the presidential palace, the title of prime minister does not carry the same clout as 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?First test, coming up with a compelling narrative that can counter the far-right where Marine Le Pen's got an even younger party leader Jordan Bardella, 28, who for now tops all polls for next June's European elections. For a Macron who sometimes seems to lay claim to the title of president of Europe a new high for the far-right 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 U.S. Secretary of State to Israel. What message does Antony Blinken carry for Benjamin Netanyahu? As the war in Gaza enters its fourth month, we will 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.Wewill ask about simmering tensions between Netanyahu and his military command and the staying power of the longest serving leader in Israel’s history, Netanyahu, whose coalition with a far-right that wants to annex Gaza seems safe for now, despite growing domestic pressure and the knowledge that 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.

Are we at a turning point in French politics? Emmanuel Macron's ruling party is 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 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 France's lower house of parliament. Is this 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 is not until 2027. In a nation where a lot of power is 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 in France, the UK or the Netherlands, why is immigration the issue that's got governments on the backfoot? The crisis in France erupted on the same day the EU agreed to what it bills as its biggest immigration reform in decades. What will be the outcome when citizens vote in EU elections next June?Read more'The far right is now in power': French media blast tough immigration lawProduced by Charles Wente, Guillaume Gougeon and Juliette Brown.

Does the buck stop in Brussels? The EU's internal markets commission has opened the first-ever proceedings over social media content. In its crosshairs is Elon Musk’s X – formerly Twitter – over illegal posts and disinformation. It follows an initial warning over a deluge of hate spewed on the social networking site in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack and the war with Israel. We ask about this litmus test for Europe's brand new regulation, known as the Digital Services Act. In content moderation, there’s moderation and then 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 EU's new AI legislation calls for the labelling 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.

Is it too little, too late or a milestone moment? The gavel has gone down on the annual UN climate summit with a final declaration that for the first time recognises 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 now for 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 capitalise 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 Vest movement. To save the planet, what personal sacrifices should we make? What collective measures should be taken?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 win marked by huge turnout comes a comeback for the centre-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 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 coincides 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 one-time Soviet bloc nation whose economy has soared since joining the EU in 2004, but whose mostly Catholic electorate remains bitterly divided over culture wars? Was the tightening of one of the EU's strictest abortion laws the issue that 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? The answer is 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 have continued this Thursday. The word from Israel is that the exchange will not happen before Friday. In the meantime, the families of the hostages wait. Their campaign has kept the plight of their loved ones in the headlines.So what are the sticking points? And will this be the pattern going forward? There are perhaps a further 190 hostages left 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.

One month and one day since Hamas last released hostages. Many a hope has been raised and dashed since.And until a deal’s done, Israel continues with its pounding of the Gaza Strip, Gaza where an estimated half 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 two hundred civilians abducted on October 7th. We will ask about the mediators and the players. Ismael Haniyeh’s 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’ aim on October 7th 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. PM Justin Trudeau's public airing of his spy services' suspicions has now prompted 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. Read moreCanada expels Indian diplomat amid probe into exiled Sikh leader's murderCould the government of PM Narendra Modi really have ordered an extraterritorial assassination? India is not the only superpower Canada is watching. China has recently been accused of pushing expatriates to oppose pro-democracy lawmakers and Ottawa is always on the lookout for Russian interference.Beyond just Canada, how do diasporas weigh on politics in their countries of origin and how do those countries impact where they live?Produced by Charles Wente, Juliette Laurain and Imen Mellaz.

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 the relief 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. But also a lengthy list of other ageing representatives and senators.  

It has been 30 years since the first Oslo Accord - a move that was touted unprecedented to try to achieve peace in the Middle East. An accord that saw Israelis and Palestinians sign a document that led to the establishment of the Palestinian Authority. Yitzak Rabin, Shimon Peres – there for Israel – and Yasser Arafat and Mahmoud Abbas for the Palestinians. Bill Clinton was chair and the idea of a two-state solution was written on paper and signed.

Flooding, brought by Storm Daniel, has pushed a divided nation to the limit with alarming levels of death and destruction. The death toll in Libya is estimated at more than 2,300. 

This programme is dedicated to the people of Morocco in mourning right now for the more than 2,000 people killed in the earthquake. We examine what happened, why it proved so devastating and take a look at the difficult rescue effort which includes recovering and getting aid to those in need.

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 digitalisation 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 it’s also battling an internal enemy. Corruption has long been a problem plaguing Kyiv and is one of the principle criticisms of the country when it comes to joining blocs such as 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 Gabon popped up on television in the pre-dawn hours to announce they had overthrown President Ali Bongo, just one hour after election results in the dead of night gave him a third term in office. We ask about the latest developments and 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 have confirmed the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin and his number two in the downing of their private jet on a flight to his native St Petersburg. We 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 who still answer to the private military company. We also ask what the fall of a figurehead who long tried to offer plausible deniability for mercenary activity and troll farming says about the Kremlin's mindset and its options as the war in Ukraine enters a new phase. Does Putin still need Wagner-type outfits?Part of the legacy of Prigozhin was on display in weekend demonstrations in Niger, where supporters of a recent coup waved Russian flags as they shouted slogans against former colonial power France. Who will now spin Moscow's message?Prepared by François Picard, Juliette Laurain, Lauren Bain and Imen Mellaz.

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.

How can France pick up the pieces? 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 ask about the state's response. 

After two nights of rioting, battle lines are drawn over Tuesday's police shooting of Nahel, the 17-year-old driver 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 is a rarity in France. Tensions over policing and France's unresolved issues with its banlieues, its working-class suburbs, are coming to the fore.

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 he makes a return to the public eye in the wake of Saturday's aborted march on Moscow by Yevgeny Prigozhin's irregulars. What are the true intentions of the master of the Kremlin? With Belarus's 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, whose leader 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. This Wednesday at a major conference in London, Ukraine's allies did promise significant chunks of cash – not just for the war effort but also for Ukraine's reconstruction. But 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 militarised standoffs in the Pacific are just part of the picture as Antony Blinken becomes the highest-ranking US official to visit Beijing in five years. The trip had been 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? The answer seems to be 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.

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?

Duelling speeches for duelling world visions. Ahead of the first anniversary of Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin delivered a state of the nation address in Moscow, in which he accused a West bent on destroying Russia of holding Ukraine hostage. In Warsaw, Joe Biden was back in the same setting where the US president last year quipped of his Russian counterpart "for God's sakes, this man cannot remain in power". At the time, the White House rolled back those remarks. But was that and is that in fact the plan?