People & Profit

Nearly 1.5 million kilometres of submarine cables criss-cross the globe. The infrastructure is key for both national security and economic stability. But an uptick in disruptions – notably in the Baltic Sea – has focused attention on the need to safeguard these networks. While many of the outages appear accidental, some can be attributed to sabotage by state-sponsored actors. 

Raoul Jacquand, Vice President for Strategic Alliances and External Affairs at Alcatel Submarine Networks, says that undersea telecoms infrastructure is a new geopolitical and economic battleground. "This infrastructure carries 99 percent plus of the world's internet traffic. So it is of strategic importance – it can damage societies, companies at large, if indeed this infrastructure is in danger on a large scale." 

Jacquand notes that artificial intelligence is also reshaping the map of cable networks. "AI will bring more traffic to transit between data centres. And data centres today need to be located where energy is cheap and abundant." 

After a week of twists and turns, US President Donald Trump delivered a highly anticipated speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday. Earlier at Davos, French President Emmanuel Macron decried bullying on the global stage and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned that "the old order is not coming back". For analysis, FRANCE 24's Charles Pellegrin talks to Brett Bruen, president and CEO of the Global Situation Room, who is just back from Davos.   

A qualified majority of EU countries have finally approved the EU-Mercosur trade agreement, over 25 years after talks between the two blocs started. Opposition is still fierce, especially from the European agricultural sector. Charles Pellegrin talks to Maria Concepcion Latorre, a professor of applied economics at Universidad Complutense in Madrid, who argues the benefits of the pact outweigh the disadvantages.

What's next for Venezuela, where a surprise attack saw US forces capture President Nicolas Maduro and his wife? Is getting control of the country's oil reserves the most important motivation for US President Donald Trump? Charles Pellegrin talks to David Goldwyn, president of Goldwyn Global Strategies and former US State Department special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs from 2009 to 2011.

It's a deal that's been decades in the works, but might not make it across the finishing line. The free trade agreement between the European Union and the South American Mercosur trading bloc is driving a wedge between those who are eager to diversify and strengthen their international trade, like Germany, and those who are concerned about protecting their agricultural sector, like France. FRANCE 24's Charles Pellegrin speaks to Maxime Combes, a French economist who fundamentally opposes the Mercosur trade deal – but not for the same reasons the French government does. 

They buy, hoard and sell the Earth's resources. In this episode, journalist Javier Blas helps us shed some light on the shadowy realm of billionaire commodity traders. He co-wrote with Jack Farchy "The World for Sale: Money, Power and the Traders Who Barter the Earth's Resources", about the power concentrated in the hands of a small number of commodity trading houses.

This episode of People & Profit explores how artificial intelligence is reshaping the wine industry. Expert Felicity Carter explains how new tools let even small producers harness big-player insights – from vineyard decisions to consumer sales – opening up fresh economic opportunities across the entire supply chain.

How to create economic opportunities in underprivileged areas? John Hope Bryant is the founder and CEO of Operation HOPE, a US non-profit that works to promote financial literacy and economic empowerment to young people and adults. A self-made millionaire himself, he has spent decades advocating on behalf of America's poorest citizens and making sure they know how to get their slice of the American Dream. He tells FRANCE 24's Charles Pellegrin that "financial literacy is the civil rights issue of this generation".

The World Bank was created in 1944 with a simple mission: to finance reconstruction post-World War II, a mandate that later evolved into reducing global poverty and fostering development. Over the decades, the mission has broadly stayed the same, but the methods have evolved – often through trial and error. Charles Pellegrin speaks to Axel van Trotsenburg, the outgoing senior managing director of the World Bank, who has been part of the institution for nearly 40 years.

The week, we head to Belem in Brazil where COP30, the UN's annual climate summit, is taking place. As rich nations drag their feet, will the Global South take the lead in climate action? We put the question to our guest, Charra Tesfaye Terfassa, economic and climate prosperity programme manager at the Open Society.