The Debate

In the end, there was no big reveal on Moscow’s Red Square on May 9. But is the devil in the detail of Vladimir Putin's Victory Day speech? In commemorating 1945 win over the Nazis, the Russian president did not declare war on Ukraine or announce a mass mobilisation, defying some expectations. He did however single out the perceived aggression of ''America and its minions”.

Is it a sign that Northern Ireland is ready to overcome old divides, or of new troubles ahead? For the first time ever, Unionists could find themselves in the minority when ballots are counted in regional assembly elections. Under the Good Friday Agreement, the DUP would still share power with Sinn Fein, who could trigger a referendum on a united Ireland.

What surprise will he spring on May 9th? All eyes are on Vladimir Putin ahead of what has become on his watch the most sacred day on the Russian calendar. Victory Day in World War II means remembrance of the estimated 26 million who lost their lives while turning the tide in what Russia calls the Great Patriotic War.

It was only a leak of a draft. Yet punches have already been thrown outside the US Supreme Court in the first standoff over Justice Samuel Alito's 98-page argument in favour of overturning the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that legalised abortion in the United States. We ask whether the document leaked to Politico is a turning point for more than just reproductive rights.

Thousands of civilians have been killed and millions others displaced since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Having failed to capture Kyiv in the early weeks of the war, Moscow has been focusing its military efforts on crushing resistance in southern and eastern Ukraine. Towns in the east are currently facing intense Russian bombardment.

The rest of Europe may not be at war, but is it ready for the sacrifices of a wartime economy? The Kremlin shutting the gas tap on Bulgaria and Poland may be but a prelude to a brutally swift transition away from Russian gas and oil. Deals will be dropped, money will be lost.

As violence intensifies on the ground in Ukraine, the diplomatic tension has also ratcheted up a notch. As Russia accuses NATO of waging a proxy war, the UN chief Antonio Guterres is in Moscow, asking for cooperation over humanitarian access to places like Mariupol. Sergei Lavrov says Moscow is "ready to cooperate" with the UN to help civilians, but only a day earlier, he warned that World War III was a real danger.

Five years ago, it was a party. This time it felt more like a town hall reception after a marriage of reason. Two hours after French voters had handed their now 44-year-old president a second term, Emmanuel Macron's acceptance speech was already over and supporters were set to call it an early night beneath the Eiffel Tower. From abroad, many were asking: how can a 15-point margin turn into a sobering affair?

Russia has claimed control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, but President Volodymyr Zelensky says as many as 120,000 civilians remain trapped there, including hundreds in bunkers below the Azovstal steelworks. Is this the shape of things to come in other cities in the Donbas region now targeted by Russia? We put the question to our panel.

Can she erase the memory of her meltdown in 2017? Trailing in the polls, Marine Le Pen has ground to make up when she squares off with Emmanuel Macron in the one and only French presidential election candidates' debate. It's an exercise that matters in a nation that takes its politics seriously. We review what went wrong for the far-right standard-bearer on the night in 2017, whether she has softened her stances – as she claims – and whether the sitting French president can overcome incumbent fatigue or avoid coming across as a know-it-all.