The Debate

By FRANCE 24 English

The Debate episodes

November 02, 2018 Showdown in Sri Lanka: PM's sacking sparks constitutional crisis
Regional players China and India are keeping close tabs on the Sri Lankan president's decision to sack Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and replace him with the country's longtime strongman, Mahinda Rajapaksa. But Sri Lanka continues to have duelling prime ministers. We look into the cause and the legality of the recall, a test for the nation's democracy. It was on Rajapaksa's watch that a civil war ended with the crushing of Tamil Tiger rebels. Could the turmoil in Colombo reopen wounds?
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October 31, 2018 Khashoggi effect? US calls for ceasefire in Yemen
Is the Trump administration distancing itself from Saudi Arabia's crown prince, and more specifically his war in Yemen? The US defence secretary and his counterpart at the State Department are calling on both sides to lay down their arms. Could Yemen be feeling a Khashoggi effect? Has Washington grown tired of supporting an offensive that's killed civilians indiscriminately and left the Arab world's poorest nation facing cholera and starvation?
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October 30, 2018 Politics of hate: The rise of violent rhetoric against minorities
In the wake of the worst anti-Semitic attack in US history, we ask: why the targeting of the Jewish community? The US president, the ultimate guarantor of safety and public order, is accused of stoking hate and purveying conspiracy theories. How much is hate speech fuelling violence? The phenomenon goes well beyond the United States and the campaign for next week's midterm elections. Are we witnessing the start of an era where unfiltered hate speech breeds terror attacks?
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October 29, 2018 Far-right turn: Will Bolsonaro safeguard Brazil's institutions?
Why has Brazil elected a far-right leader who’s nostalgic for the days of the country’s military dictatorship? We take a look at how Jair Bolsonaro appeals to voters. The far-right former army captain rode the wave of anger over crime and corruption to beat his Workers Party opponent. But without a majority in congress, will Bolsonaro try to override civilian institutions to implement policies which include extra-judicial powers for police, deforestation of the Amazon and gender-pay inequality?
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October 25, 2018 A ticking time bomb? Trump critics tie bomb scare to violent rhetoric
Ten suspicious packages and counting. Less than two weeks before the US midterm elections, the manhunt is on after the mailing of explosive devices to a whole host of prominent Democrats and Trump critics, everyone from the Clintons and the Obamas to actor Robert De Niro. The president himself is putting "the full weight of the government" behind the investigation, vowing to spare no resource and calling for national unity.
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October 24, 2018 Europe's Next Crisis? Brussels rejects Italy's budget plan
Could it really be a bigger existential threat to Europe than Brexit or the Greek debt crisis? Italy's government has been given three weeks to respond after becoming the first eurozone member ever to see its national budget rejected by Brussels. Who will blink first in this brewing standoff between the Commission and a populist coalition in Rome that decided that reining in the continent's second-biggest public deficit could wait?
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October 23, 2018 The Pressure on Saudi Arabia: What Turkey knows about Khashoggi murder
While Recep Tayyip Erdogan asks for answers from the top over the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, we ask how far Turkey's willing to go. Erdogan called for the 15-man hit squad and three others to be tried on Turkish soil, but refrained from openly blaming the Saudi crown prince. So what else does Turkey know? Also, as the 'Davos in the desert' conference opens in Riyadh, how much influence can Saudi money buy?
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October 22, 2018 The Nativist: Trump warns of migrant 'emergency' ahead of midterms
Will Donald Trump defy the odds again like in 2016 when the polls got it oh so wrong?Two weeks ahead of the US midterm elections, the president has honed a simple narrative that foreigners and feminists are coming to get you. First the foreigners, feeling scrutiny over his support for a Saudi regime that's now partially owned up to the brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
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October 18, 2018 India's #MeToo moment: why women are now calling out sexual harassment
A watershed moment for India's #MeToo movement... Only it's not he says, she says... but rather he sues, they come forth. Distinguished newspaperman and academic M-K Akbar says he's quitting as junior foreign secretary to clear his good name. When he decided to sue journalist Priya Ramani for criminal defamation... at least 19 other women came forward with claims of harrassement by Akbar.
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October 17, 2018 Where do you draw the line? Brexit deadline summit stumbles over Irish border
The Irish border the biggest hurdle at a deadline summit on concluding terms of divorce between Britain and the rest of the European Union. As a safeguard in case there's no agreement in time on keeping the UK in the customs union, the E-U insists that the deal must keep the border open between the two Irelands.
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A live debate on the topic of the day, with four guests. From Monday to Thursday at 7:10pm Paris time.

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