The Debate

Donald Trump again says the Iran war will be over "soon"... The US president has said this in some way, shape or form a number of times in recent days.Yet, there's still no solution on the horizon in the Middle East. March 9: Trump said the war was “very complete, pretty much.” March 24: He reportedly said the U.S. and Israel had “won” the war. April 14: In a Fox Business interview, Trump said the war was “very close to being over.” April 16: CBS reported Trump again saying the conflict was “very close to over.” May 1: In a letter to Congress, he declared the hostilities had “terminated.” May 7:Trump said there was a “very good chance” the war was nearing an end and spoke optimistically about peace negotiations. This Thursday, there is word of a 14 point memorandum under consideration by Tehran. Key in the demands being made by Washington is a moratorium on Iran's enrichment of uranium. In return there'd be a lifting of sanctions against Iran and an unfreezing of assets. 
Produced by Mark Owen, Antonia Cimini, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.

Never have local elections in the United Kingdom been so loaded with implications. The rise in popularity of two parties – Reform UK and the Greens – raises questions about the political system, which has for so long been based on two main parties. 
But on a wider scale, the fate of the UK prime minister could be in play. Keir Starmer has been under pressure, it seems, ever since winning the 2024 general election. There are already reports of plans to push him aside if Labour loses heavily in Thursday's local elections. So could this be Starmer's last stand?
Produced by Mark Owen, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Guillaume Gougeon and Charles Wente.

Iran's economy may be teetering on the brink of collapse, but does that really threaten its regime? Monday's flare-up of hostilities across the Strait of Hormuz makes clear that oil's not about to start flowing freely again. Tehran and Washington are both signalling they can bear the pain of lost revenue and inflation, with Iran arguably taking that brinkmanship further.
When missiles target the Emirates' prized Fujairah pipeline, which bypasses the Strait, they're shooting at what was a favoured hub for parking its cash and bypassing sanctions. We ask about who feels more pain in the divorce with the same UAE that last week quit OPEC, in part because it thought Gulf neighbours weren't tough enough on Tehran.
Read moreUS and UAE report Iran attacks as military pushes to reopen Strait of Hormuz
The Islamic Republic knows that its main nemesis, the one that killed its supreme leader, faces the pain of rising prices at the pump ahead of November US midterm elections. But what about ordinary citizens in Iran, a nation where mass New Year's protests were sparked by soaring inflation?
At what point is the regime in danger? A messianic streak and a survival mode honed over decades are both factors. But Iran and its powerful Revolutionary Guards also rely on a vast patronage system. Behind the cloak of an internet blackout, how's it looking on that score?
Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Andrew Hilliar.

Just as Europe frets over fresh Trump tariffs, a US troop drawdown announced for Germany and the message it sends to a hostile Russia, how about not one but two summits in former Soviet state Armenia. Before a first-ever gathering of EU leaders in Yerevan on Tuesday comes the European Political Community: a talk shop with regional players which also include Ukraine and NATO heavyweights like the UK, Norway and an outside guest who shares superpower proximity problems. 
We revisit Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney's clarion call for so-called middle powers that share common interests and values to band together.
Read moreEuropean and Canadian leaders hold security talks in Yerevan amid uncertainty over US policy
Is this summit a show of strength? Or a provocation sure to rile both Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, one month before Armenia's incumbent Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan goes before voters to sell his US-brokered peace deal with neighbouring Azerbaijan in a general election?
More broadly, do wars in Iran and Ukraine make Western-style liberal democracy an easier or a harder sell?
Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Andrew Hilliar.

Is it just another billionaires' battle of egos or does the $150 billion lawsuit that pits Elon Musk against Sam Altman go to the heart of how artificial intelligence could determine the future of humanity? We ask about the origin story of OpenAI, founded by some of Silicon Valley's leading luminaries as a non-profit organisation that would put innovation at the service of a socially responsible AI, the growing pains and fallouts that followed, leading up to the launch of ChatGPT and OpenAI's alliance with Microsoft.
Watch moreMusk vs Altman: Two tech mavericks go head to head in OpenAI trial
Is there an air of inevitability in this tale of ambition? Is it human nature that profit eventually comes before safety, particularly when investors want a return on their record sums? A ruling in California against Altman could scuttle the transformation of OpenAI from non-profit to publicly traded company.
We've seen this movie before – literally. The 2010 film "The Social Network" chronicled the ambitions and betrayals surrounding the rise of Facebook. Since then, the stakes have risen exponentially. Gone are the days when tech titans mused about effective altruism.
The big question: does the rest of the planet watch passively as the United States moves towards less, not more regulation at the dawn of an era where machines are sure to upend the way we work, think and live? 
Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Guillaume Gougeon, Charles Wente.