The Debrief

The Debrief is joined by Miché Solomon, born Zephany Nurse, whose story has gripped South Africa for decades. In 1997, she was taken from Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town when she was just a newborn, and she grew up knowing nothing about her real identity. Seventeen years later, a chance meeting at a new school, where friends noticed how much she looked like a girl called Cassidy, led to a DNA test and the truth: she was the daughter of a family that had spent 17 years searching for her. Miché takes us through how she found out, what it was like to discover two families and two names, and why she chose to forgive the woman who took her.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Debrief is joined by shipwreck survivor Matt Lewis, author of Last Man Off, to relive one of the most harrowing survival stories imaginable. In June 1998, Matt was a 23-year-old marine biologist on his first assignment, aboard the fishing trawler Sudur Havid in the brutal waters off Antarctica, when a winter storm overwhelmed the boat and the pumps failed. He told us how the officers on board froze into inaction, and how he jumped into action to coordinate the evacuation and get the crew into the life rafts. Matt describes the nightmare that followed, adrift in a raft flooded with sub-zero seawater, and how 17 of the 38 crew did not make it home. It is a gripping, sobering account of disaster, leadership and sheer will to live, from the man who was, quite literally, the last man off.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Debrief is joined by David Abel, director of the documentary In The Whale, to tell one of the most extraordinary survival stories you will ever hear. In June 2021, Cape Cod lobster diver Michael Packard plunged into the waters off Provincetown on a routine dive, only to be caught inside the mouth of a humpback whale, trapped in total darkness for around 30 seconds, certain he was about to die, before the whale surfaced and spat him back out. David takes the team inside how it happened, how Packard survived, and why he questioned the story himself before every detail checked out. He also reveals the part most people never hear: what the sudden, dizzying wave of global fame did to a fiercely private man who just wanted to keep diving.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Driverless cars are already operating on Dubai’s roads, but are they ready for the city’s unpredictable traffic, and are passengers ready to trust them? Hassan Khairat and Antonio Semeraro, Principals at Arthur D. Little Middle East, join The Debrief to discuss where the UAE stands in the global autonomous vehicle race, why companies including Pony.ai, Baidu Apollo Go and WeRide are testing their technology here, and whether Dubai can achieve its ambitious target of making 25% of all trips autonomous by 2030.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AI is moving too fast. That’s the warning from Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, who recently called for the industry to slow down. And he isn’t alone. Some of the biggest names in artificial intelligence are raising concerns about the speed of development and the potential damage rogue AI systems could cause. But how realistic is the threat, and what could it mean for ordinary people? Maher Yamout, Lead Security Researcher at Kaspersky, joins us to explain what is really happening, whether fears of an AI takeover are justified and how we can protect ourselves.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Debrief crosses live to Apple expert and content creator Jermaine D'Vauz to break down everything from Apple's big launch. Fresh off the September keynote, Jermaine talks the team through the new iPhone 18 Pro and Pro Max, and the headline moment nobody could stop talking about: Apple's first-ever foldable iPhone, its biggest change in form factor since the iPhone X. He gets into the upgraded cameras, what the foldable is expected to cost, and whether it lives up to years of hype. And there's a change at the very top too, as this marked the first launch led by Apple's new CEO John Ternus, stepping into the role after Tim Cook. Jermaine gives his verdict on what it all means for anyone thinking about their next upgrade.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Every year, somewhere between two and five trillion dollars in dirty money is washed through the global financial system. The Debrief is joined by Robert Nordlander, who spent 20 years as a Special Agent with IRS Criminal Investigation, one of the world's most elite financial crime units. Robert explains what the unit actually does, and walks the team through what it takes to track dirty money through somewhere like Zhao Wei's Golden Triangle zone in Laos, a 39 square mile enclave one man effectively runs as his own country. He also gets into whether crypto has made hiding money easier or harder, how both criminals and investigators are now racing to out-use each other with AI, and what strings to pull at to track dirty money.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Debrief sits down with 26-year-old Loic De Marie, who has been diagnosed as a psychopath, for a rare and unsettling look inside how he actually experiences the world. Loic takes the team back to his youth, the moment he first understood he was different, and the incidents that made his family realise something more serious was going on. He speaks with striking bluntness about relationships and whether he can genuinely love, how he makes sense of grief and heartbreak, and where, if anywhere, he finds joy. He describes how he used to manipulate people (especially women) and just how conscious he was of doing it, and what it's like to feel no fear. Dane and Shaan were left terrified and fascinated in equal measure…See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nearly 30 years after Tupac Shakur was murdered, a jury has finally found someone guilty. Journalist Cathy Scott, who covered the case from the night Tupac was shot, explains who Keffe D is, how his own words helped convict him, and why justice took so long.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Debrief is joined by true-crime filmmaker Joe Berlinger, the man behind Netflix’s The Idaho Murders: College Nightmare. In November 2022, four university students were found murdered inside an off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho. Joe takes us inside the investigation, the evidence and the extraordinary scrutiny surrounding the case. He explains how social media transformed the story, why misinformation spread so rapidly, and what happens when millions of online spectators begin treating a real murder investigation like a mystery they can solve.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.