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PODCAST

The Debate

FRANCE 24 English

A live debate on the topic of the day, with four guests. From Monday to Thursday at 7:10pm Paris time.

news & politics

All Episodes

00:43:41

Decision time in Brussels: Will EU ignore threats and...

The Debate ·

2025/12/18

Some brand it "the most crucial EU summit" since the financial crisis of 2008; a last chance to stave off bankruptcy for a Ukrainian government that might run out of money by the end of spring. But where will the money come from? With Vladimir Putin insisting that it's not "European pigs" that will stop Russia from liberating its "historic lands", and with the US actively supporting pro-Moscow parties that continue to surge in polling across the continent, leaders of the 27-member bloc must now

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00:43:20

FIFA goes MAGA? The World Cup, Trump and the future...

The Debate ·

2025/12/18

As 2025 draws to a close, all year long one question has dogged the most plugged-in of football fanatics: what's up with Gianni Infantino? Why all the cameos by the head of an international sports body at the US president's inauguration, a Middle East peace signing and another for DR Congo and Rwanda? Read moreUS President Donald Trump named first winner of FIFA Peace Prize Why create a peace prize for the said leader of the host nation of next summer's World Cup final? Is it the initiative of one

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00:43:26

The battle for Marseille: How to win back streets as...

The Debate ·

2025/12/16

One month after the stunning assassination of the brother of an anti-gangland activist, French President Emmanuel Macron is returning to the Mediterranean port for an update on the government's plan to win back the streets and offer hope to fed-up citizens of France's second-largest city. The whole reason Amine Kessaci became an activist was the earlier murder of his older half-brother, who got mixed up with the wrong crowd. The unsolved murder of 20-year-old Mehdi Kessaci – who was training to

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00:42:37

Terror at Bondi Beach: What response to Australia's...

The Debate ·

2025/12/15

It was the worst of humanity, and the best of humanity. What kind of a father-son duo decides to go shooting at a gathering that's come together to celebrate the Jewish festival of light? We ask about the motives and circumstances of the Bondi Beach terror attack, and the heroism of a Syrian-born street vendor who took bullets to the shoulder while disarming one of the gunmen. Read more'Genuine hero': Bystander tackles alleged gunman during Bondi Beach mass shooting The amateur video of the incident

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00:44:04

Europe according to Trump: What response to claim of...

The Debate ·

2025/12/10

Europe is weighing its words after Washington's publication of an official policy paper that warns the Old Continent is under threat of "civilisational erasure", with fading powers overrun by migrants. It’s the logical follow-up to Vice President JD Vance's admonishments back in February at the Munich Security Conference, one that goes far beyond the unexplained absence of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio at last week's NATO foreign ministers' meeting. Read more'They're decaying': Trump recycles

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00:43:12

A new Syria? One year after the fall of Bashar al-Assad

The Debate ·

2025/12/08

It was exactly one year ago that a lightning offensive reached its ultimate conclusion. Syria saw the fall of Bashar al-Assad, ending over five decades of his family's dictatorial regime in a blitz that stunned the world. In Damascus, celebrations erupted in Umayyad Square, as Syrians emerged from 13 years of brutal civil war, marking a moment of both relief and disbelief. In the chaos that followed, Assad fled to Moscow and former jihadist Ahmed al-Sharaa, now the interim president, took the reins

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00:44:30

Licence to kill?

The Debate ·

2025/12/03

When should a soldier disobey an order? The US president and his Pentagon chief doubling down on operations to sink without summation alleged drug boats in the Carribean and the Pacific, the pair pushing back on a Washington Post report asserting that back in September, Pete Hegseth's orders led to a follow-up strike on a vessel, killing all remaining survivors. Among the issues whether interested parties could face war crimes charges. US War Department footage can make this look like a video game

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00:43:45

Back to the Kremlin: Will Witkoff plan seal Ukraine's...

The Debate ·

2025/12/02

A peace plan allegedly made in Moscow, a week of furious scrambling to dial it back by Ukraine and its European allies and now it's back to the Kremlin for Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff, flanked only by the US president's son-in-law Jared Kushner and an interpreter. Have negotiations in Florida moved the needle back in Kyiv's favor? How hard – or soft – can the bargaining be? Is Witkoff Putin's puppet, as suggested last week by French newspaper Libération? Beyond last week's leaks that had the

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00:43:39

Nigeria's wave of kidnappings: Why the spike in...

The Debate ·

2025/12/01

Why is Nigeria in the throes of a kidnapping epidemic? Sometimes depicted as terrorists, other times as bandits, attackers have targeted three schools inside of a week, leading some to compare the abductions with the 2014 Chibok attacks by the jihadists of Boko Haram. We do our comparison and revisit the same question as a decade ago – why would any human being abduct children; in some cases nursery school children? It's an ordeal for the victims and their families, and bad timing for Africa's most

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00:44:55

Getting ready to fight back? France introduces...

The Debate ·

2025/11/27

French President Emmanuel Macron has announced that France is to reintroduce a national military service. Young people will be taken into the military, trained for a period of around a year and paid €800 a month. The programme will be open to all, and voluntary. Macron made this historic announcement at an army barracks in the Isère region, surrounded by young people already in uniform. The reason for this reintroduction of military service, according to the French president, is clear: the growing

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00:43:19

Witkoff's art of the deal? Trump aide coaches Kremlin...

The Debate ·

2025/11/27

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

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00:40:36

International Day for the Elimination of Violence...

The Debate ·

2025/11/25

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

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00:41:11

US-backed Ukraine peace plan: What's at stake?

The Debate ·

2025/11/24

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

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00:44:29

Could Bamako fall? Mali's capital under threat from...

The Debate ·

2025/11/12

A string of coups and the pushing out of former colonial power France in favour of Russian support haven't stopped insurgents from going from strength throughout the so-called coup belt from Burkina Faso to Niger. We ask about the blockade on Bamako that's made it perilous for fuel delivery trucks to reach the capital of landlocked Mali, and what it would take to repel the JNIM. Mali has seen this movie before. The French intervened back in 2013, when insurgents tried to take the capital a first

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00:45:52

AI's insatiable appetite for cash, energy and data:...

The Debate ·

2025/11/12

Could the artificial intelligence boom already be running out of road? We examine the warning signs. To think that three short years ago, the commercial launch of ChatGPT took the world by storm. AI has since sparked a global race for cash, energy resources and data – all to feed the seemingly insatiable appetite of large language model computing systems. With a few US companies dominating the AI race – and a US president who's all-in with billionaires – market watchers worry about investors tempted

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00:43:00

Syria's grand pivot: What next after Sharaa's...

The Debate ·

2025/11/10

From radical insurgent with a $10 million bounty on his head to a red carpet welcome at the White House, the rebranding of Syria's Ahmed al-Sharaa is now complete. The former jihadist has become the first-ever Syrian president invited inside the Oval Office. We ask about the terms and conditions of a visit that surely seals a regional realignment on a scale unseen since the 1979 fall of the Shah of Iran. How much did backers Turkey and Saudi Arabia press for this moment? Where does it leave Israel,

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00:43:08

A truce on whose terms? Trump hails pause in trade...

The Debate ·

2025/10/30

After launching a trade war with China, Donald Trump is now declaring a deal is at hand for a one-year truce. With nothing yet signed, we ask about the South Korean sit-down between the US president and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, promises of reduced tariffs and computer chip exports by the US, the easing of restrictions on rare earth minerals and a return to soybean imports by Beijing. We also ask about the choreography of a shorter-than-expected one hour-and-40-minute meeting in South

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00:41:38

Gen Z poster child? Socialist Mamdani favourite in...

The Debate ·

2025/10/29

The whole world is watching 34-year-old Zohran Mamdani, whose army of Gen Z supporters have propelled the Democratic Socialist to heavy favorite to win next Tuesday's race for mayor of New York City. We ask about his promises of rent freezes and free buses and whether that's too radical for the world's financial capital. We also ask whether the best way to break through polarised echo chambers is through moderation, as personified by Mamdani's closest rival, former New York governor Andrew Cuomo

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00:43:44

The fall of El-Fasher: A turning point in Sudan's...

The Debate ·

2025/10/29

First it was a revolution confiscated, then a dispute between coup leaders that became a civil war. Three years on, Sudan is wondering if the fall of a key city in the western Darfur region is the cue for a second partition of the country. The massacre of civilians in Darfur is drawing comparisons with the genocide there two decades ago. That’s hardly surprising as the paramilitary leader who led the 18-month siege of El-Fasher is the same Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo – aka General Hemedti – who was an

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00:43:24

Trump backing boosts Milei in midterm elections: An...

The Debate ·

2025/10/28

"Speak softly and carry a big stick." That was US President Theodore Roosevelt's adage to stake out Washington's turf in the Americas. More than a century on, it's being evoked by some after an upset win in Argentina's midterm elections by a close ally of the current occupant of the White House. Only Donald Trump didn't speak softly. He bluntly warned that rejection of the party of far-right libertarian Javier Milei would imperil Washington's $20 billion lifeline for a peso that's teetering. We ask

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