TV Shows

Kenyan President William Ruto talks to Al Jazeera about the nationwide protests that left dozens dead, accusations of police brutality and enforced disappearances, and whether he’s betrayed the “hustler” generation that helped elect him. He also addresses Kenya’s economic challenges, its leadership role in Haiti, and regional accusations of interference in Sudan’s war. As scrutiny grows at home, Ruto insists Kenya’s democracy remains intact, and his promise of transformation, unbroken.

Recent Israeli air strikes on Lebanon have reignited fears of more conflict along the border.

Israel says it is targeting Hezbollah positions to stop the group from rebuilding its military capabilities.

Israeli forces are also bombing Gaza, violating a recently agreed to ceasefire, and have launched more than 1,000 air strikes in Syria since the fall of the Bashar al-Assad regime.

Next week, US President Donald Trump will host Ahmed al-Sharaa, the first Syrian president to visit the White House.

So, how will that meeting impact regional sovereignty?

And can Israel sustain its near-daily attacks across the Middle East under the guise of security?

Presenter: Cyril Vanier

Guests:

Nabeel Khoury – non-resident fellow at the Arab Center Washington, DC

Heiko Wimmen – project director for Iraq, Syria and Lebanon at the International Crisis Group

Harlan Ullman – senior adviser at the Atlantic Council and chairman of the Killowen Group, a strategic advisory firm

The race for access to Central Asia’s natural resources is intensifying.

United States President Donald Trump has set his sights on the C5 nations, comprised of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.

He hosted a summit with their leaders at the White House, as Washington aims to get access to the mineral-rich region and reduce its reliance on China for imports of critical minerals.

But the leaders of the C5 face a delicate balancing act to make deals with the US without annoying Moscow or Beijing.

The meeting in Washington came just a month after Russia’s Vladimir Putin attended a summit with the C5.

And earlier in the year, the Chinese president also met C5 leaders, hoping to maintain China’s role in the region.

So, can Washington succeed in a region long dominated by Russia, and where China is making inroads?

Presenter: Nick Clark

Guests:

Zhumabek Sarabekov – Acting Director at the Institute of World Economics and Politics in Kazakhstan

William Courtney – Senior Fellow at the RAND Corporation

Dakota Irvin – a Senior Analyst at PRISM Strategic Intelligence

America’s longest government shutdown is becoming more painful by the day.

At least 40 million Americans are struggling to get food, more than a million federal workers haven’t been paid, health insurance premiums are rising, and flights are getting disrupted.

Congress has been locked in a standoff over a bill to fund government services, with Democrats demanding tax credits that will make health insurance cheaper for millions of Americans and an end to federal agency cuts.

Democrats won decisive victories in state and local elections this week. President Donald Trump is blaming the shutdown for this setback to the Republican Party.

So, will he now be willing to negotiate? Can the two sides agree to a comprise?

Presenter: Bernard Smith

Guests:

Mark Pfeifle – Republican strategist

Jeremy Mayer – Professor of political science at George Mason University

David Bolger – Democratic strategist

The secretary-general of the United Nations has described the latest wave of atrocities reportedly committed by the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces in Sudan’s city of el-Fasher as “a nightmare of violence and a horrifying crisis”.

Thousands of people are believed to have been killed, and many more displaced, after the paramilitary group took over the army headquarters and other key installations in el-Fasher last month.

The United States says that Sudan’s warring sides have agreed, in principle, to work towards a three-month humanitarian truce.

But with violence spreading to other areas beyond North Darfur, can Washington’s plan succeed?

Presenter:

Adrian Finighan

Guests:

Amgad Fareid – executive director, Fikra for Studies and Development

Mathilde Vu – advocacy manager for Sudan, Norwegian Refugee Council

Susan Page – former assistant of the US special envoy for Sudan

As inequality deepens and dissent is punished, many are looking to new voices like Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist running for New York City mayor on a platform of rent freezes, free public transit, and taxing the rich. Can candidates like him revive the Democratic Party in the United States, or is real reform from within impossible?

This week on UpFront, Marc Lamont Hill speaks with journalist and former Bernie Sanders Press Secretary Briahna Joy Gray.

The United States and China have declared a truce in the trade war launched by US President Donald Trump in April, argues Evan Medeiros, former US National Security Council director for China.

Medeiros tells host Steve Clemons that the deal reached between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Trump resolves the urgent trade issues between the two sides – tariff rates, soya beans and rare earth minerals – but China “remains committed to ensuring that Russia doesn’t lose” in Ukraine.

The US has more than 200,000 soldiers surrounding China, Medeiros adds, but Washington knows that “nobody wants to choose between the US and China.”

Tanzania’s incumbent president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, has been re-elected with 98 percent of the vote in an election denounced by the opposition as a sham.

The government has denied that hundreds of people have been killed in a police crackdown.

So, what’s behind this crisis, and what’s next?

Presenter: Adrian Finighan

Guests: 

Tito Magoti – independent human rights lawyer and activist

Nicodemus Minde – researcher with the East Africa Peace and Security Governance Program at the Institute for Security Studies in Nairobi

Fergus Kell – research fellow with the Africa Programme at London’s Chatham House