Monocle’s Emma Searle discusses South Africa’s parliamentary election next month and how significant it is among the roster of global polls in 2024. Then: Tom Webb and Fernando Augusto Pacheco talk artificial intelligence, robotaxis in San Francisco and juice conspiracies. Plus: we report from Niagara Falls as it braces for a once-in-a-century total solar eclipse.

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Daniella Peled and Ali Borhani discuss Nato at 75 and how its mission has changed. We also explore Israel’s alleged use of artificial intelligence in warfare, Kuwait’s unheralded elections and why Bavarian police are doing without trousers. Plus: a letter from Washington during cherry-blossom season.

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Mark Lowcock and Caroline Frost discuss Israel’s strike on World Central Kitchen and the risky work of humanitarian organisations. We also explore whether Ukraine will get enough funding to hold the frontline, why Botswana’s threat to send Germany 20,000 elephants is nothing to laugh about, and why the moon is about to get its own time zone. Plus: The death of Jesse James on this day in 1882.

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Nina dos Santos and Jonathan Fenby discuss Israel’s new “Al-Jazeera law”, whether China’s influence extends to rail and why Swiss federal councillors have given up their biggest job perk. Plus: we preview Slovakia’s presidential election run-off. 

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Simon Brooke and Lynne O’Donell discuss all the day’s big stories. Plus: we meet Ukrainian film director Ivan Sautkin, director of documentary film, ‘A Poem for Little People’.

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Monocle’s Istanbul correspondent, Hannah Lucinda Smith, joins our in-house show to discuss Turkey’s municipal elections and the built environment under president Erdogan. Plus: the role of stadiums in cities and we check in with The Chiefs conference in Hong Kong.

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Our panellists discuss Russia’s embarrassing intelligence failures and why it’s cracking down on gay nightclubs. Plus: the UK’s record migration levels, Donald Trump’s Bible copies and the role of religion in politics. Plus: saving the dachshund and a letter from the French Alps.

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Our panellists, Kate Clark and Vincent McAviney, explore whether Afghanistan is in danger or re-emerging as a hub of global terrorism, why the UK’s veterans’ affairs minister could face jail time, whether the great olive-oil strike of Frankfurt’s European Central Bank is justified and why moonshine is making a return. Plus: musician John Miller is live in the studio.

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Our panellists discuss whether the UN is right to accuse Israel of genocide, whether Julian Assange’s extradition should be blocked over the US death penalty, whether NBC should have hired Ronna McDaniel and why Vienna’s horse-drawn carriages could get a new lease on life. Plus: Michael Kimmage on his book, ‘Collisions’, about the war in Ukraine.

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Terry Stiastny and Stephen Dalziel discuss the Russia attack, the UN Security Council’s call for a ceasefire in Gaza and why Kamala Harris probably wishes that she had learned Spanish. Plus: Nina dos Santos on the UK’s allegations of Chinese spying and the Yemen Listening Project.

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Monocle’s Fernando Augusto Pacheco and Christopher Cermak discuss the ongoing furniture row between Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and former president Jair Bolsonaro – and compare it to their US counterparts. Then: the latest report on global music consumption, fridge magnets as souvenirs and a music session by The Staves. 

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Quentin Peel and Nadine Batchelor-Hunt examine Antony Blinken’s visit to the Middle East to discuss a postwar plan for Gaza. Then: does the return of Donald Tusk signal the rebirth of the Weimar Triangle? And why does one German politician want children to prepare for war?

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We discuss the surprise resignation of Ireland’s Leo Varadkar, whether frozen Russian assets should be used for Ukraine and why director Jonathan Glazer’s Oscars speech is sparking heated debate. Plus: Finland’s UK ambassador on why his nation is the world’s happiest and Sasha Issenberg on his new book ‘The Lie Detectives’.

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Panellists Rebecca Tinsley and Charles Hecker discuss the UN’s warnings about nuclear threats, the unintended consequences of the US’s slide towards isolationism, Niger’s rejection of Western interventionism and the V&A’s decision to label former UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher a “contemporary villain”. Plus: Andrew Mueller recounts the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge on this day in 1932.  

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Our panellists Julie Norman and Petri Burtsoff discuss the fallout of Russia’s predictable elections, border policies from the US to Finland, the latest from Washington’s government-shutdown fight and one family’s curious attic discovery. Plus: comedian Joel Morris offers some tricks of the trade.

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Ukraine begins talks with aviation regulators to resume international flights during martial law, we reveal the world’s coolest streets and an Australian billionaire revives their dream to set sail on ‘Titanic II’. Plus: a look back at Mipim and we explore the film ‘Banel and Adama’.

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EU parliamentary elections are approaching and polls are predicting big gains for far-right parties. Panellists Robin Lustig and Marta Lorimer discuss the state of populist politics in Europe and whether mainstream politicians can do anything to turn the tide. Then: Denmark plans to conscript women to military service. Should the West be preparing its civilians for war? Plus: a look at the role of chess card games in politics.

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Sean Ryan and Tina Fordham discuss Vladimir Putin’s recent nuclear rhetoric and whether independent candidates will spell trouble for Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the US presidential election. Plus: does having children really ruin your career? 

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Special counsel Robert Hur testifies before Congress about his investigation into Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents. Thomas Gift discusses the political implications.  Meanwhile, as US support for Ukraine dwindles, pressure is mounting on Europe to get its act together and take charge of its own security. Vincent McAviney and Olga Tokariuk examine Europe’s defence wake-up call, the curious role of humour during wartime and China’s panda diplomacy.

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