The Debate

By FRANCE 24 English

The Debate episodes

March 19, 2023 Saudi Arabia bets on cinema: A smokescreen for human rights violations?
FRANCE 24 brings you a special full-length report on how the conservative kingdom of Saudi Arabia is investing in home-grown cinema. Making films in stunning Saudi locations is also a way of attracting foreign tourists to the country. Young people are now rushing to see films at multiplex cinemas and women make up a large proportion of the audience – a sign of the country's liberalisation. But is all this simply a smokescreen for serious human rights violations? We discuss the issue in this debate.
12 min
March 16, 2023 Macron goes for nuclear option: French government overrides parliament over pensions
French President Emmanuel Macron has got his pension reform out of the way early in his second term, but at what cost? His prime minister has triggered a vote of no-confidence rather than holding a straight up-and-down vote on the bill itself. How will the railroading through parliament of a plan that's sparked France's biggest strikes and demonstrations in years test the legitimacy of a term-limited president and his minority government in future dealings with the unions and lawmakers?
46 min
March 14, 2023 Xi Jinping on all fronts: How far will China-US rivalry go?
Xi Jinping boasted about a "great wall of steel" in the speech marking the kickoff of his precedent-breaking third term as China's president. He has consolidated his grip on power and is flexing his might just as leaders of the US, Australia and the UK converged on San Diego, where they vowed to stand up to Beijing's expansionist designs in the Pacific and elsewhere. How adversarial is Xi, what with so much trade between AUKUS allies and China?
43 min
March 13, 2023 Is it contagious? US regulators scramble after Silicon Valley Bank failure
Are banks going bad again? Markets are scrambling to contain the shockwaves from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, a California lending institution favoured by tech startups. Its seemingly safe bet on government bonds proved a bust, triggering an old-fashioned run on the bank. Is it contagious? The bank's failure marks the first major default since rising interest rates signalled the end of decades of cheap money. The 2008 financial crisis triggered a return of regulation, forcing big banks to keep more reserves in the vault. But was it enough?
46 min
March 09, 2023 Georgia's pro-EU protests: What next after government drops 'foreign agents' bill?
Street protests have forced Georgia’s parliament to back down on a bill aimed at making groups with overseas funding register as foreign agents. Critics say it's a mimic of the law that’s on the books in Russia. We ask about a Georgian government that's on paper pro-European, but whose main backer first made his fortune in Russia. Why did lawmakers give in? What next for Georgia?
47 min
March 08, 2023 Nord Stream sabotage revelations: Who's really behind Russian gas pipeline explosions?
Who did sabotage the Nord Stream pipelines? Without much proof to go on, pundits could only root for the version that would suit their cause. But German investigators have now revealed they have found traces of explosives aboard a yacht that may have carried the charge that last September knocked out the undersea conduit that supplies Russian gas to Europe via the Baltic Sea.
45 min
March 07, 2023 Do we really need to work longer? France's pension reform and the changing labour market
France is growing older. However, Europe's record-breaking life expectancy has a downside: in order to pay for its increasingly healthy legion of retirees, the French right wing says there's no other option but to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64. The left retorts that if corporations paid their fair share in taxes, that would more than sustain the country's cherished pay-as-you-go pension system. Ahead of what unions are billing as their biggest strikes yet against the government's pension reform, what exactly does the future hold for workers?
43 min
March 02, 2023 School poisoning mystery: Is girls' education in Iran under threat?
Since November, over 1,000 Iranian schoolchildren have apparently been poisoned by toxic gases in their classrooms, and it seems the attacks are on the rise. An investigation by FRANCE 24's Observers team shows 26 schools were targeted on Wednesday, the highest figure in a single day. It is not known who is behind the poisonings, or indeed why. But what is clear is the impact: girls struggling to breathe, fatigued and nauseous, with many ending up in hospitals.
47 min
March 01, 2023 Nigeria presidential elections: What next after Tinubu wins with record low turnout?
The votes have been counted in Africa's largest democratic exercise. But will the results hold? Bola Tinubu is Nigeria's president-elect. Described as a godfather of Nigerian politics, the 70-year-old has been a major political operator for decades and is a close ally of incumbent Muhammadu Buhari. The opposition have failed to deliver the upset they fought for, but they are crying foul. Citing fraud and vote rigging, they have promised to challenge the results in court.
44 min
February 28, 2023 West Bank tensions: Can Israel and Palestinians curb deadly violence?
This week has seen yet another brutal cycle of violence in Israel and the occupied West Bank. It is a story you may well feel you have heard before: a Palestinian attack on Israeli civilians, and a response described as disproportionate or even collective punishment.
46 min

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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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