The Debate

• Could Bamako fall? Mali's capital under threat from al Qaeda-linked insurgents

  A string of coups and the pushing out of former colonial power France in favour of Russian support haven't stopped insurgents from going from strength throughout the so-called coup belt from Burkina Faso to Niger. We ask about the blockade on Bamako that's made it perilous for fuel delivery trucks to reach the capital of landlocked Mali, and what it would take to repel the JNIM.   Mali has seen this movie before. The French intervened back in 2013, when insurgents tried to take the capital a first time. But that hero's welcome in Timbuktu for then-president François Hollande is now a distant memory. How do Malians take back their own country? What's the alternative to what the jihadists are offering? And what's the spillover effect of potential failed states at the heart of the Sahel for the region, and for Europe? Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente.

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• AI's insatiable appetite for cash, energy and data: Bubble ahead?

  Could the artificial intelligence boom already be running out of road? We examine the warning signs. To think that three short years ago, the commercial launch of ChatGPT took the world by storm. AI has since sparked a global race for cash, energy resources and data – all to feed the seemingly insatiable appetite of large language model computing systems. With a few US companies dominating the AI race – and a US president who's all-in with billionaires – market watchers worry about investors tempted by the easy money of rising tech stocks at the expense of the entire rest of the economy. Is it a bubble? Is it about to burst? And with what consequences? How should Europe and the rest of the world prepare? More broadly, is AI changing humanity and our world for better – or for worse? Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Charles Wente, Ilayda Habip & Jean-Vincent Russo

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• Syria's grand pivot: What next after Sharaa's historic White House visit?

  From radical insurgent with a $10 million bounty on his head to a red carpet welcome at the White House, the rebranding of Syria's Ahmed al-Sharaa is now complete. The former jihadist has become the first-ever Syrian president invited inside the Oval Office. We ask about the terms and conditions of a visit that surely seals a regional realignment on a scale unseen since the 1979 fall of the Shah of Iran. How much did backers Turkey and Saudi Arabia press for this moment? Where does it leave Israel, who on the same day is getting a visit from the US president's son-in-law Jared Kushner to remind his hosts to play nice with the Turks during phase two of the Gaza peace initiative? Does this all mean that the same Donald Trump who campaigned against foreign interventions will wind up involving the United States more – not less – in the Middle East? And where does it leave Syria, where the US still backs the Kurds in the fight against the Islamic State group and where Christian and Druze minorities have plenty of reason to doubt Sharaa's promise of guaranteeing their safety? More broadly, how soon can the new masters of Damascus deliver a peace dividend to citizens still reeling from decades of dictatorship, corruption and civil war? Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Ilayda Habip, Charles Wente & Jean-Vincent Russo

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• Brazil's contradictions: Can COP30 summit host truly go green?

  When it came to the Amazon, his predecessor was all for "chop, baby, chop". An easy act to follow if you're hosting the world for a climate summit. Since the return of Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, deforestation has continued but drastically slowed in what's by far the world's largest rainforest. But by bringing the United Nations COP30 summit to the Amazonian city of Belem, Lula is also drawing attention to Brazil's broader track record on the environment. The South American powerhouse may boast of an electricity grid that's 90 percent powered by renewables, but last month it also approved drilling for offshore oil across from the mouth of the Amazon River. Lula is defiant, arguing it's all with an eye to financing green investment and funding social programmes for the poor. Is his a balanced approach or a sellout?

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• Radical change? Mamdani wins New York as voters turn on Trump across US

  One year after a presidential election where Donald Trump swept swing states and secured majorities in both houses of the US Congress, a first test has produced a radically different result. 34-year-old Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani has blown past establishment candidates for mayor of New York, unveiling his transition team this Wednesday. We ask about Mamdani's win and the highest turnout in the city's municipal elections in more than half a century.  Read moreProgressive Democrat Zohran Mamdani wins New York City mayoral race We also ask about wins for more moderate Democrats elsewhere in the US and whether Republicans should worry ahead of next year's Congressional midterms. Donald Trump attributes the setback in part to the fact that he wasn't on the ballot. The US president may have a point: since returning to office, he has monopolised the airwaves. How do the TikTok skills of Zohran Mamdani measure up to the politics of outrage coming from the far right? Will Trump double down on retribution? Will he send federal troops to more cities run by Democrats, including his native New York? More broadly, will democracy in America now grow more polarised, or will the centre eventually hold?

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