The Debate

Don't be fooled by tenuous truces. Nearly two weeks on in Sudan, with no clear winner in sight, the personal power play between rival generals shows all the signs that it could spiral into all-out civil war. Residents are desperately trying to leave the capital Khartoum. Tens of thousands have also fled the Darfur region for neighbouring Chad, as armed factions choose sides while local rivalries and banditry flare up. How to stop the spiral? Who to stop it?

After US President Joe Biden announced he was tossing his hat in the ring for a second term, we ask about his fitness for the job. Is Biden up to the task of being once again the world's most powerful person? More broadly, is US politics skewed towards seniority? Is it a misperception that the baby boomer generation born before 1965 continues to hold a lock on power? Can Biden – and Donald Trump, for that matter – convince the voters?

Which Lula is it this week? In Lisbon, Brazil’s president charmed his hosts in a speech before the Portuguese parliament to mark nearly half a century since the Carnation Revolution that ended the dictatorship there. Lula had raised eyebrows with his recent visit to China, where he accused the US of "encouraging" the war in Ukraine, and then with last week's warm welcome for Russia's foreign minister.

Is he a loose cannon, or did China's ambassador to France just test the waters for a more offensive posture on Ukraine? Lu Shaye has made headlines before, most notably with his wolf warrior calls to order over Taiwan. Now come his latest comments questioning not only Ukraine's sovereignty over Crimea, but the very legitimacy of the 14 independent states that peeled off from Russia when the Soviet Union collapsed. The embassy claims he was speaking only for himself.

Is Sudan heading for civil war? Since last Saturday, the country has been caught in the crossfire of an argument between top brass. Neither junta leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan nor his nominal number two Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo seem ready to listen to outside mediation attempts. The longer the death match continues, the greater the risk that armed factions at home and abroad get drawn in.

A significant settlement or a slap on the wrist? Those hoping to see media mogul Rupert Murdoch take the stand will be disappointed by news of a $787 million settlement with Dominion, which sued Murdoch's Fox News over repeated false claims that its voting machines rigged the 2020 elections for Joe Biden against Donald Trump.

What do the French want – a leader who respects the will of the people, or one that gets things done? In his prime time address on Monday, the term-limited Emmanuel Macron acknowledged how deeply unpopular his pension reform is. But now that it has been railroaded through parliament, validated by the courts and enacted by the president, he again assured it was for the best and that it's time to move on to the rest of his laundry list of reforms.

How to stop Sudan from descending into an all-out civil war? Civilians are caught in the crossfire of a lethal dispute between coup leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and his number two, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti. Stray bullets and aerial bombardments are currently pinning down citizens in the capital and other major cities.

Loose lips sink ships, read the poster during World War II. The US government was then urging citizens to refrain from sharing what might even seem like benign information to the untrained ear. It was only a matter of time before Europe's first ground war since the information age sprang a leak that might be anything but benign. In fact, it is a miracle it did not happen sooner. The so-called Pentagon Files are coming out in a very 21st-century way: first in a chat room among gamers, before graduating to Twitter and Telegram, and now to journalists following up on a trove of documents that appear to be five weeks old – some authentic, some apparently doctored.

A nostalgia tour or a chance to consolidate the peace in Northern Ireland? On the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that ended decades of what was effectively sectarian civil war in an impoverished corner of Europe, a US president who is proud of his Irish Catholic heritage returns, but for less than a day in the north. Joe Biden does not want to appear to be endorsing the current gridlock in Belfast's power-sharing assembly. Twenty-five years on, peace is still a work in progress.