The Debate

In Beijing, a four-day meeting promises a "rare resolution" on Chinese history. It's all about the man at the top. Xi Jinping is being elevated to the same rank as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, China's other transformative leaders, with an eye to next year and the lifting of de facto term limits. Will he serve a third term and beyond?

Have we already bungled the green recovery? One year on, post-pandemic plans to turbocharge energy transition with massive next-generation infrastructure investment are still on the rails, but have taken their knocks from fiscal hawks, vested interests and infighting over what it really takes to make the planet great again.

Livelihoods are very much at stake in the Franco-British fishing row, which is turning out to have larger implications than suspended licenses and the sequester of a trawler. Can a solution be found? Does either side want to compromise? Boris Johnson is facing surging energy prices and post-Brexit uncertainty. Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron is up for re-election in six months' time and faces issues at home over fuel prices and migrants putting a strain on coastal communities.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Abiy Ahmed says he'll bury his government's enemies with their blood. The Ethiopian prime minister's words come on the first anniversary of the internal conflict with Tigray rebels. With at least 2 million people displaced by fighting and thousands already killed, the US is sending an envoy to urge a peaceful solution. Meanwhile, the UN has published a report citing allegations of war crimes on both sides. Is there any hope for de-escalation?

"Killed in the line of duty" is a phrase most associated with police officers or soldiers who lose their lives while confronting crime and injustice. In this debate, we're asking why there are now so many journalists facing the same threat. A new tribunal has opened to investigate deaths of reporters, with its initial targets the governments of Mexico, Sri Lanka and Syria. Is it just the tip of the iceberg? Join us as we mark the International Day to End Impunity for Crimes Against Journalists.

"The last chance saloon for the planet." Those were the words of Prince Charles as COP26 gets into full swing in Glasgow, Scotland. We discuss the stakes for us all as world leaders go head to head over the future of the Earth. Climate change is "the ticking doomsday device", says summit host and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Who has the political will and courage to effect the kind of change that experts say is urgently needed to save our planet?

Facebook began this week by announcing more than $9 billion in quarterly profits, an increase of about 17 percent. The social media giant also announced that it now has close to three billion users. But all is not well on the Facebook front as Mark Zuckerberg's platform has been facing a deluge of scathing reports.

It has been two and half years since Sudanese protesters peacefully overthrew their dictator Omar al-Bashir in a jubilant moment for Sudan. But the path to democracy has not run smoothly. Infighting has plagued the country's joint military-civilian coalition and steep price rises have shaken people's faith in their leaders. For weeks, rumours had swirled of a coup d'état. This Monday morning, it happened: Prime Minister Abdallah Hamdok was arrested and military chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan appeared on television, declaring a state of emergency and dissolving the country's ruling body. Is this the death knell for Sudan's revolution? Or will the military's actions breathe new life into the protest movement?

European Union summits are renowned for the ingenious ways devised to blur the lines and horse trade on hot button issues. These compromises are what keep the 27 states at the bargaining table until next time. Either Poland stops defying the prerogatives of the European Court of Justice and respects protection of basic rights for all, or Brussels sits on nearly 24-billion euros of pandemic recovery funds that Warsaw was counting on.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is capping a three-nation tour of Africa with Nigeria, where the hard bargaining is about much more than commercial deals. After the success of Turkish-made drones in the war in Nagorno-Karabakh, arms sales are certainly in the mix. We’ll also ask about drone diplomacy and Erdogan's bid to take custody of Nigerian schools and universities run by the rival Gulenist movement, accused of orchestrating the failed 2016 coup in Turkey.