A live debate on the topic of the day, with four guests. From Monday to Thursday at 7:10pm Paris time.
Épisodes
What the hack? Europeans face growing psyops and cyberattacks
So this time, it's Iran, not Russia? France – reportedly acting on US intelligence – is summoning Tehran's ambassador over last month's hacking of hundreds of supermarket refrigerators that overheated, 15 of which even caught fire. Why now, at a time when Iran is trying to break its international isolation? We ask about France's role in the region, particularly in defending Gulf states, and about
Broken system? French protesters rage against austerity
How can the nation of haute couture and high-speed rail have an affordability issue? On paper, France boasts the planet's seventh-largest economy. Its top diplomat started the week hosting a G7 foreign ministers' meeting inside the regal setting of its landmark Left Bank ministry. But a few short blocks away, the prime minister was engaging in a more arduous exercise: negotiating pay rises with un
Blue wave across America: Do US midterms signal beginning of the end for Trump?
He asked people to pretend he was on the ballot and they did. Voters across the United States have chased US President Donald Trump's Republican majorities from both houses of Congress. How big a landslide is this for the Democrats? We add up final ballot counts and ask if it's the beginning of the end for a US president who's broken norms in his second term with his outsized use of executive powe
Trickle or tsunami? Democrats eye gains in US midterm elections
Will it be a trickle, a wave, or a tsunami? It's Election Day in the United States, with Democrats hoping to take back one or both houses of Congress. We track the turnout, gauge the mood and raise the curtain ahead of midterm results that are sure to shape the last two years of Donald Trump's second and final term. Will a US president who’s already broken norms with his maximum use of executive p
Free and fair? The midterms and the state of US democracy
How far will the president of the United States press this time if Tuesday's midterm elections don't go his party's way? From "only if the Republicans win" campaign promises to a US Justice Department that's already got involved in races, will the White House weigh on the outcome? How will ballot counting go? What's changed since Donald Trump's "stop the steal" rhetoric led to the January 6, 2021
Michigan's El-Sayed targeted by Republicans in midterms race: Will the religion card work?
What in the name of political free speech is off limits? Can you say whatever you want on the campaign trail, no matter how false or racist it is? If you're the president of the United States, the answer is apparently yes. When Donald Trump calls Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed a jihadist, it barely makes news. Does exposing voters to a daily diet of slander and slop work? Does it do las
Which way will Israel break? Netanyahu still in it after election night surprises
In Israel, the surprises only start with election night. They're still counting ballots in a vote that featured the highest turnout in decades, historic inroads by Arab parties and Benjamin Netanyahu's worst result since 1999. And yet, Israel's longest-serving prime minister still has a path to staying in power. As we await the definitive makeup of the next parliament, our panel breaks out the cal
Bibi's moment of truth: Israel votes in first general election since October 7 attacks
The turnout tells the tale. Israelis are casting ballots in their largest numbers in decades in the first general election since the October 7 attacks of 2023. The vote is seen as a referendum on the bloodiest day in the nation's history. But more broadly, what kind of Israel do citizens want? While traditional allies have long lost sympathy with the unending punishment inflicted on Gaza and the
Comeback kid: How did Brazil's veteran leader Lula upset Bolsonaro?
Just two days shy of his 81st birthday, Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has emerged as the comeback kid. Coming from behind in the polls after a bitter campaign where he often showed his age, Lula has become the first candidate since Brazil’s return to democracy in the 1980s to win the presidential run-off after trailing in the first round. How did the Workers' Party leader turn a 2.2 million v
Back to the Bolsonaros? Brazil's presidential run-off goes down to the wire
Brazil's future is within the margin of error ahead of Sunday's presidential runoff: most of the latest polls put the far-right's Flavio Bolsonaro ahead of left-wing incumbent Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – a lead that's narrowed after last weekend's acrimonious debate. We ask about crime, inequality and the other issues that could determine this nail-biter. We also ask whether the nearly 81-year-ol
Europe's wave of anger: How far will youth-led protests go?
Youth-driven protests have been popping up all over Europe: in Belgium, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Albania, Serbia and Greece. The spark here in France was deteriorating conditions in high schools and universities, particularly for students from underprivileged backgrounds. Meanwhile, wages aren't keeping up with inflation. The housing crisis is front and centre in places like Spain and Portugal, whi
AI on the ballot? Voters in US midterms revolt against data centres
Two weeks out from the US midterm elections, there's bipartisan pushback against data centres that suck the water and power out of communities. Just two years ago, ChatGPT was still a brand-new thing, and AI was admired with awe by most voters. Like in 2024, the hot-button issue in swing constituencies remains inflation, or "the price of eggs". But anxiety over the end of the month is now coupled
Out of control? France stunned by October 17 rioting
France didn't just erupt on Saturday – it exploded. Police were doubly overwhelmed by the turnout of the October 17 cost-of-living demonstrations, which saw two and-a-half times the crowds they expected. Officers were also overwhelmed by determined flashmobs: some radical militants hellbent on a fight, others who came for the looting. The whole world watched the assault on symbols of the Republic
Will Trump really pull the plug? Starlink restored but Ukraine's fate still uncertain
Can a flick of a switch really be enough for Donald Trump and Elon Musk to end Ukraine's hopes of holding out against Russia? With Kyiv already reeling from daily strikes by Russia's new motor-powered drones, the US decision to slow SpaceX's Starlink service was felt immediately on Wednesday, when air raid warnings failed. We check the status of Starlink, which is reportedly back up to speed, ask
How far will 'Cockroach' movement go? India's youth-led protests defy Modi government
It all started as a bit of online satire by a few young people fed up by corruption. Clearly though, the "Cockroach" movement is no longer a laughing matter for India’s government, which has shut transport and blocked rallying points in the capital to quell the momentum of a youth-led mobilisation that's already brought down the education minister over rampant school exam cheating and is now spear
France's fed-up youth: Can presidential candidates connect with student movement?
Will it be autumn recess to the rescue for a beleaguered French government? Ministers are no doubt counting the days until the school holidays start on Friday evening, in the hopes that an unexpected student movement disappears as quickly as it materialised. The movement sparked three weeks ago by deteriorating conditions in a Paris-area high school may indeed take a leave of absence, but what abo
How exposed is Saudi Arabia? Yemen's Houthis scale up drone and missile attacks
How exposed is Saudi Arabia? Just as Iran's retaliation to Donald Trump's war suddenly exposed the vulnerability of neighbouring Gulf states, how much is Riyadh reeling from the escalation with Yemen's Tehran-backed Houthis? We assess the physical and material damage from strikes on airports and oil facilities, as well as eventual repercussions for the kingdom's ability to project strength. In the
Black Sea and black ops: How exposed is Europe to Ukraine war spillover?
The story is as underreported as it is consequential for the entire planet. Three Turkish-owned cargo ships out of Ukraine have been hit in EU waters by suspected Russian drones. One, the Togo-flagged Alfa Watan, sunk on Tuesday off Bulgaria. Ten Egyptian and Syrian crew members are missing. For its part, Ukraine has been hitting Russian tankers in the Black Sea, with no sign of a return to a UN-b
No longer the same Israel? October 7 and the future of the Jewish State
For now, it's still Benjamin Netanyahu's Israel. In 2023, in the immediate aftermath of the country's worst day of bloodshed in its history, pundits predicted the quick demise of the right-wing prime minister. But on the third anniversary of the October 7 attacks, Israel's still not reckoned with the security failures on the day, the root causes of the Hamas-led terror attack, the brutal war of ve
France erupts over schools: Why the violence surrounding surprise movement?
It’s a protest movement that a broke, lame-duck French government did not see coming. Civil servants this Tuesday joined high schoolers who are now in their third week of picketing over long-deteriorating classroom conditions. The usual recipe for wearing down movements in France has recently been to match any violence with a heavy hand, with the escalation turning the silent majority against the
Return of the Bolsonaros: Why the far-right surge in Brazilian elections?
Do voters care about attempted coups? Brazil's Flavio Bolsonaro is on the cusp of unseating Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the country's October 25 presidential runoff. Bolsonaro's father was jailed over the Brazilian version of the January 6 storming of the US Capitol. Up and down the ballot, other Bolsonaros have been elected in the first round as the far right surges. Is it about incumbent fatigu
Will AI write our books? Row over bestseller fuels fear over future of literature
France still very much takes its literary prize-giving season seriously. So when a Haitian-born Canadian writer was accused of infusing his best-selling breakout novel with artificial intelligence, it got ugly in a hurry. We wade into the Thélyson Orélien affair with its subsequent accusations of racism, previous plagiarism by the author and doubts over the accuracy of AI verification tool Pangram
Ethiopia back to civil war? Horn of Africa fears spillover effect of renewed fighting
After contagion in the Arabian Peninsula, should the entire Horn of Africa fear a domino effect? Just as US President Donald Trump’s decision to invade Iran drew the Saudis back to Yemen, did threats over the Bab al-Mandab Strait light the fuse in Ethiopia, where last week, unresolved issues between the government and its Tigray region erupted? Could a potential return to civil war draw in regiona
Still the same far right? Le Pen's National Rally denies fresh anti-Semitism claims
A minor bump on the French far right's road to power, or a car crash that wipes out years of rebranding? Bombshell allegations of past anti-Semitic tropes by the man Marine Le Pen has touted as her future prime minister could test her years-long effort to convince French voters that the National Rally is a party of government, rather than the fringe far-right National Front of old. We examine the
