The Debate

Violent gangs in Haiti have overrun the country while Prime Minister Ariel Henry went to Kenya to seal a deal for an international policing force. With the PM now stuck in Puerto Rico, the situation in America's poorest nation, which has been without a president since the 2021 assassination of Jovenel Moise, has gone from bad to worse. 

Now Haiti’s truly leaderless. The UN, United States and Carribean leaders are scrambling for an alternative to outright gang rule by the likes of the notorious Jimmy Cherizier – aka Barbecue. And if Washington’s tired of Henry, then what’s the alternative? 

Our panel reacts to the exclusive report we're about to show you by partner station France 2 filmed in the streets of Port-au-Prince before last weekend’s massive jail break by the gangs. 

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Guillaume Gougeon and Imen Mellaz. 

Five months, 30,000 Palestinians killed and an Israeli prime minister whose only plan seems to be to reoccupy Gaza indefinitely. This time, has the US had enough?

In a first for the Biden administration, Vice President Kamala Harris called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, before welcoming Benjamin Netanyahu’s main political rival. Benny Gantz is currently part of a national unity war cabinet and is also being welcomed by the US Secretary of State, this as the US starts air drops for Gaza civilians and ups the pressure on Israel.

As for Binyamin Netanyahu, who is critical of the red carpet rollout for Gantz, he's shrugging off the international community's fading support for Israel, instead playing on the support of far-right coalition partners and the nerves of mediators who don't want the Arab world to erupt when a month of prayer and fasting begins next week with Ramadan.

How insulated is Israeli public opinion from the damage done to the country’s reputation by the killing of civilians? Has last week's bloodbath at a food distribution convoy in Gaza City moved the needle?

Over the past five months, we have often asked how to find the common ground that can end this nightmare. With both sides traumatised by October 7 and its aftermath, who and how to break a deadlock that's both destructive and – critics argue – self-destructive?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz. 

Why set it in stone? France has become the first nation to enshrine abortion rights in its constitution, thanks to overwhelming approval from a rare joint session of both houses of parliament. Lawmakers launched the initiative after the US Supreme Court's overturning of a half-century-old federal guarantee. But does the rolling back of reproductive rights across the Atlantic and in places like Poland and Hungary necessitate a constitutional amendment in France?

Unspoken is the very real chance of a surging French far right taking over for the first time since World War II. Its leader Marine Le Pen herself voted for the amendment, as did a majority of her party, but many conservatives also want the constitution to recognise France’s Christian roots. 

Why do these culture wars issues resonate so powerfully? Are these issues specific to France and Europe, or part of a global conversation about how humanity defines gender rights? More broadly, which way is the pendulum swinging?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz

With July just around the corner, is Paris ready to host the Summer Games? Mostly yes, if you listen to France's president, who was on hand this Thursday for the inauguration of the Olympic village. It's one of the few venues built from scratch for an event that promised sustainability and, for the most part, to showcase existing structures. A total budget of less than €9 billion makes for 40 percent less than that of the 2012 London Olympics. 

But there's still plenty that can go wrong, from Paris transport strikes and price gouging on hotel rooms to what's on a municipal employee's stolen laptop. Sources at Paris City Hall say he claimed to have been robbed of security plans for the Olympics so that police would expedite his case. Either way, what are the challenges, particularly surrounding the opening ceremonies along the River Seine?

More broadly, there's an essential question: 100 years after Paris last hosted the Games, what are the Olympics all about? In an era of superpower tensions and of splintered allegiances, why does this global spectacle continue to fascinate?

Read moreParis in 2024: Much more than the Olympics at stake?

Produced by Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati and Louise Guibert.

Don't bet the family farm on it. Politicians in Paris, Warsaw, Brussels and New Delhi won't magically find the quick fix for an agriculture sector that's gone global at the expense of small producers. Why is it erupting all over, including here in France? 

Many of those who heckled President Emmanuel Macron at the opening of Paris's big annual agriculture fair last Saturday say they wish they could live from the fruit of their labour, but that new environmental norms and open borders make it impossible to compete. Many of them cheered the far right's leader when he showed up the next day. 

In India, those protesting lean more towards the left. The enemy, they say, isn’t sorely-needed food safety and biodiversity standards but World Trade Organization rules that let the foxes in amongst the chickens: global wholesalers and distributors who – they say – write the rules and impose their will. 

So how best to protect small farming in the 21st century?

Produced by Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati and Louise Guibert

Emmanuel Macron has turned heads at a hastily organised summit for Ukraine. The French president for the first time evoked the possibility of Western troops to thwart a Russian victory – one option among many. Macron himself acknowledged that opinions vary. In other words, he's very much in the minority.

But with US aid lost in the gridlock of an election year, Europeans – including the UK – are showing a newfound sense of urgency as they watch the Ukrainians run low on manpower and ammunition. We ask how far this continent can go and about public opinion that's solidly behind Ukraine but wary of mission creep.

We also ask whether we're talking about the same Macron who used to pride himself as the leader who can talk to Vladimir Putin. Finally, we examine Russia's reaction. Moscow has always backed Macron's main rival, the far-right’s Marine Le Pen.

Produced by Charles Wente, Guillaume Gougeon and Imen Mellaz.

There’s no good way to sugarcoat setbacks. On the second anniversary of Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine conceded that its summer counter-offensive had stalled and that in pulling back from Avdiivka, its forces were both outmanned and outgunned.

With US military aid seemingly stuck until November’s elections and beyond, nearly two dozen European leaders met in Paris this Monday to try to cement a plan to pick up the slack. That has now begun… but at what pace? A solid majority of Europeans still support Kyiv, but increasingly question its chances of winning.

And what’s next for Russia? As early voting in occupied parts of Ukraine begins for next month’s election, Moscow has momentum… but does that mean victory for a country that has 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, neither side wants to stop - even though Gaza has been flattened. Israel’s Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is trying to pre-empt conciliatory voices by the visiting the US secretary of state and 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, has now piled on the demands for a hostage-prisoner exchange deal after nearly two weeks of truce talks.

Has Qatar been as ineffective with the Palestinian militants as the United States has been with Netanyahu? Do hardliners always win over moderates in the Middle East?

With Israeli guns now bearing down on Gaza’s southernmost city, Rafah, and US military and civilian aid caught up in the election year gridlock of Capitol Hill, who will 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 and on the front lines of global warming needs leadership its citizens can trust. But Thursday's elections follow a familiar pattern of revolving door politics.

Out is former prime minister Imran Khan, who first lost his coalition and then his freedom after feuding with the military-backed establishment.

In is a scion of Pakistani politics, Nawaz Sharif, whose return from exile was made possible by a Supreme Court rule change that enabled him to run despite a corruption conviction. The same Sharif once ousted in a coup is back in favour. 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 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.

The only thing more difficult than guessing what goes on behind the walls of the Kremlin is 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 neighbouring Russia. Then, it was Western claims of North Korean munitions winding up on the battlefield in Ukraine. Now, it's more.

A Hwasal-2 cruise missile fired in the sea on Tuesday is seen by some as the usual sabre-rattling in response to annual military exercises by the South. But this time, is it testing the waters for export to Russia?

Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has triggered sanctions and a prolonged war effort that have drawn Vladimir Putin closer to Western pariah Iran. 

How about North Korea? Is this a chance for Pyongyang to break its international isolation? And what consequences for Seoul? On that score, we ask about tensions between the two Koreas that are currently on the rise. 

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 on a whole new layer of meaning when the prime minister is just 34. We 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. With farmers' tractors converging on the capital, we also ask how he's handling his first nationwide protest movement.

The same protests by agriculture workers that have mushroomed across Europe are forcing Attal into hard bargaining with unions and industry representatives ahead of an EU summit on Thursday where France will talk up ideas like "sovereignty" and a "French agricultural exception".

Speaking of sovereignty, Attal is talking up curbs on immigration and better pay for those who work than those who don't. Is it enough to siphon votes from a surging far right? 

Read moreBaptism of fire: New French prime minister faces farmers' protest

Produced by Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati, Peter Hutt-Sierra and Imen Mellaz.

What is Washington to do about Middle East mission creep? What response from the United States after the weekend attack in Jordan that killed three of its troops? The US has already hit back at Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria in the past, 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 ask how much Tehran had a hand in Hamas's October 7 attack and its aftermath, and what went down in Paris this past weekend as Israel and its mediators contemplated the conditions for the fighting to stop. 

This 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, from Warsaw to Brussels, farmers are venting their fury at having their margins squeezed by inflation and big distributors that drive down market prices in the name of protecting consumers' pocketbooks. Their tractors have been bearing down on Europe's capitals. From Berlin to Bucharest, from Warsaw to Brussels, farmers are venting their fury at having their margins squeezed by inflation and big distributors that drive down market prices in the name of protecting consumers' pocketbooks. 

Here in France, the movement has moved from the impoverished small family farms of the southwest to the gates of Paris. In a nation that's particularly proud of its peasant roots, whose agribusiness giants rank among world leaders, we ask about the fury and distress and about the government's pledge to streamline red tape. 

And while the EU is 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 is making political hay out of what it portrays as woke globalist tree huggers out of touch with reality. It's all happening ahead of June's European elections. 

Read moreWhy French farmers are up in arms: fuel hikes, green regulation, EU directives

Produced by Charles Wente, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

So much for the primaries. Donald Trump is all but killing suspense this January with an 11-point win in New Hampshire over Nikki Haley, his sole Republican rival left standing. Never Trumpers can try the "it’s only 11 points" argument in a state he won by 20 points during his first run in 2016, but New Hampshire is an outlier that lets independents vote in primaries. Exit polls suggest the former president won the votes of three quarters of the party faithful. 

We ask about the Republican faithful: they do not all approve of the January 6, 2021 bid to storm the Capitol and overturn elections, but are ready to overlook that. Why? And why are they so energised? Do the Donald Trumps of this world answer a demand or dictate the agenda? 

More importantly, is that energy enough to unseat Joe Biden? As we saw in 2016, Trump does not need a majority of the votes, but simply 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, with more than 25,000 Palestinians killed. And while the Israeli military claims to have encircled the southern city of Khan Younes, it is also burying its dead after the army's deadliest single day since October 7. We hear reactions to the death of 21 Israeli reservists.

For Israel's Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, it's 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 he has always resisted: work towards an actual two-state solution with the Palestinians. 

It is also about political survival. When the fighting ends, Netanyahu faces a reckoning over security lapses on his watch, not to mention three corruption cases. For Israel, it's about a shattered sense of invincibility. For ordinary Palestinians, it's a living nightmare. How to end this cycle of death?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

India's prime minister calls it a "new era". Narendra Modi has consecrated the Ayodhya temple in the nation's most populous state of Uttar Pradesh, fulfilling a decades-old promise to build a proper shrine to the Hindu deity Ram on the site where a Moghul-era mosque was torn down by Hindu nationalists in 1992. That destruction sparked deadly riots that killed some 2,000 people, mainly Muslims.

Are we witnessing a turning point for secularism in the world’s largest democracy? 

The ceremony is viewed by many as the unofficial kick-off of the campaign by Modi's BJP in its quest 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 an India where growth is soaring, where technology now reaches the most remote village, but where nearly two-thirds of citizens still live outside cities, how are values evolving?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

Has Iran just opened a new front? On top of support for Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon and the Houthis in Yemen, now come tit-for-tat strikes with Pakistan to the east. Both sides say they targeted separatist Baloch insurgents, but the sudden escalation between usually friendly neighbours adds a whole new layer of uncertainty to a region that's already close to boiling point. 

Since October 7, critics have portrayed Iran as a puppet master, as evidenced by Kal's cartoon in The Economist, with the caption "I prefer a hands-off approach".

Recently, Iran has had to contend with terror at home: the targeting of police stations by radical Baloch separatists and the twin bombings in Kerman at the start of the month in a ceremony honouring late Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Soleimani. On Tuesday, Tehran hit targets in Pakistan, but also Iraqi Kurdistan and Syria. 

On that score, just as we've asked if the United States is overstretched patrolling in both the Mediterranean off Israel and Lebanon, and now off the coast of Yemen amid Houthi strikes on shipping, can the same be said of Iran?

Produced by Juliette Laurain, Rebecca Gnignati and Imen Mellaz.

2024 began with conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East that are sending shockwaves around the world. It continues with a scramble for innovation in energy and tech that's got the superpowers beefing up protection for homegrown industry and along the way, a series of elections that often pit populists against the guardians of globalised trade.

Enter France’s term-limited president. We hear what Emmanuel Macron had to say at his first visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos in six years. Caught between the investors they need to court and the superpowers China and the US that seem locked in a tariff and subsidy race, do citizens want an EU that's open for business, or manning its borders? 

A reminder of the challenge ahead of June's European Elections came on Monday, when tractors rolled into Berlin. Farmers and truckers are both angry at the scrapping of a subsidy on diesel that they say punishes the working classes. With global warming, the green transition has become a question of national security all around. But does it have to increase inequality and force a backlash that favours the far right?

Whether it's the green transition or the defence industry, it's all down to the role of the state. The disruption of supply chains in Europe during Covid-19 and Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine have forced a rethink on when profits come second to security. So what does 2024 look like?

Produced by Alessandro Xenos, Juliette Laurain and Imen Mellaz.