The Debate

It's snowing in the Alps. Normal weather for February, you say? But cue the sighs of relief of organisers of the 25th Winter Olympics in Milan and the Dolomites resort of Cortina d'Ampezzo. Organisers of the next Games just over the border in the French Alps will take heart. Mother Nature has been fickle in recent years. 
As the US vice president and secretary of state attend the opening ceremonies, there's been plenty of media coverage of the flying in of federal immigration agents, the same who've been grabbing five-year-olds and shooting protesters in Minnesota. The ICE agents are there purely in an advisory role, but it throws the spotlight on the optics of what's ostensibly PM Giorgia Meloni's moment of glory. The only European leader invited to Donald Trump's inauguration a year ago must astutely calibrate between her far-right roots and Europe's interests as she hosts the planet. How will these Olympics play in times of testy transatlantic relations, especially ahead of next summer's World Cup in the United States?
More broadly, what legacy for the 2026 Winter Olympics? Which exploits and which characters will transcend the flag waving? And when the fortnight's over, how will the locals feel about having welcomed the world?
Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Daniel Whittington, Ilayda Habip, Delphine Liou.

It's moving day at the palace – or should we say moving night. The former prince Andrew exited Windsor Castle under the cover of darkness for his brother's private Sandringham estate in Norfolk. The latest document dump about disgraced late financier Jeffrey Epstein provided more lewd allegations around the former royal. 
Also out, but not yet stripped of his title, is ultimate Labour Party insider Peter Mandelson, who's under criminal investigation over the leaking of state secrets to an Epstein who had many friends and acquaintances, from the Kremlin to the Clintons, from far-left thinker Noam Chomsky to far-right agitator Steve Bannon. 
Read moreUK ex-US ambassador Peter Mandelson quits House of Lords amid Epstein scandal
Will the current occupant of the White House himself face a reckoning, or simply shrug off the latest allegations with a "see, they all do it" attitude to entitled elites that further fans the flames of populism?
Can the age of massive data dumps meet the promise of transparency, or overwhelm and cloud the issue of accountability for all?
Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Daniel Whittington, Ilayda Habip, Delphine Liou.

One month after the US captured Nicolas Maduro, is Washington trying its Venezuela template on Iran? Not the part where special forces swoop in for foreign leaders, but rather the part where the regime and its apparatus can stay, so long as Washington gets what it wants. In the case of Iran, maximum pressure and Donald Trump's initial promise to protesters that "help is on the way" seem to be morphing into art of the deal-style nuclear bargaining. 
We ask about this coming Friday's direct talks between the Iranian foreign minister and Trump's New York real estate buddy-cum-special envoy for hot zones Steve Witkoff, whose busy week started with a stop in Israel. How very different times these are from 2015, when the UN could still broker an Iran nuclear deal with all the permanent members of the Security Council. 
Today, despite sanctions, last June's US and Israeli strikes against nuclear facilities and most recently, a ferocious crackdown that's possibly left tens of thousands of Iranians dead, the clerics and the Revolutionary Guards still rule.
With all the upheaval in the region, what next for a traumatised nation and a region in flux?
Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Delphine Liou.

The official line these days out of China is that it's a stable partner "in an uncertain world." So what to make of the bombshell news out of Beijing? Xi Jinping has purged his top general Zhang Youxia, with accusations against the 75-year-old loyalist that range from corruption to leaking nuclear secrets to the US. We ask about the reasons and the timing, what with the move fuelling speculation that an invasion of Taiwan could now come sooner rather than later.
How soon? And with what pushback from a United States that's offering fresh armament for Taipei but not troop support, and from wary neighbours like Japan, where new nationalist Prime Minister Takaichi Sanai has taken a big gamble by calling a snap election for this coming Sunday.
More broadly, does this purge signal a very new chapter in the longest reign of China's most powerful leader since Mao Zedong?
Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Piera Rocco, Delphine Liou.

Making Ukrainians freeze in winter wasn't enough. A Russian strike hit a moving train on Tuesday in the northeastern Kharkiv region, killing six people. As the casualty toll on both sides approaches two million according to an independent study, we weigh the grinding effect of nearly four years of all-out war. 
Read moreAt least six killed in Russian drone attack on passenger train
And what it will take to end it? Ahead of more talks in Abu Dhabi, the United States is adopting a neutral tone in the face of Russia's demand that Ukraine give up the entirety of the eastern region of Donbas. What are Kyiv's options?
And what are Europe’s options? NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte is telling allies to "keep on dreaming" if they think they can go it alone without a US-led NATO. With the French president due to speak in the coming weeks on an eventual expansion of France's nuclear umbrella to neighbours, and public opinion across the continent rallying against Donald Trump's hostile takeover bid for Greenland, what does 2026 have in store?
Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Daniel Whittington, Piera Rocco, Charles Wente.