The Briefing

As the US president makes his way back across the Atlantic, we discuss the pomp, the pageantry and the politics. Plus: London Design Festival and a new book taking Japan by storm.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

France experiences new strikes as major unions oppose planned budget cuts by newly appointed prime minister Sébastien Lecornu. We discuss how the unrest threatens president Emmanuel Macron’s reform agenda.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Washington restarts US arms shipments to Kyiv under a new agreement. Plus: Why Japan will not recognise a Palestinian state at next week’s UN summit and photographer Olivia Arthur on the Fujikina London 2025 festival.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Monocle’s foreign editor, Alexis Self, explains the minefield awaiting Starmer as he meets Trump. Our fashion editor, Natalie Theodosi, wraps up NYFW, while our design editor, Nic Monisse, takes us to London Design Festival.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Thailand’s new prime minister will submit his cabinet for royal approval this week, Beirut’s historic Le Colisée cinema reopens for Lebanon’s International Theatre Festival and the latest design news from the Monocle team.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The view from Brazil as the country’s former president Jair Bolsonaro is sentenced to decades in prison for plotting a military coup to overturn its 2022 election. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The hunt continues for the killer of conservative US influencer Charlie Kirk, then business news and the changing of the guard at luxury group Kering. Plus: ‘The Global Countdown’ takes us to Japan.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As protests erupt across France, we discuss whether the nation’s political and economic future is beginning to look like Italy’s. Then: reflections on a successful Quality of Life Conference in Barcelona with Andrew Tuck. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We discuss the rebrand of the US federal agency formerly known as the Department of Defense. What does the name change mean for the Pentagon’s approach to global military strategy and power?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A new Thai prime minister is sworn in as former leader Thaksin Shinawatra returns from abroad ahead of a crucial court verdict. We discuss the latest with Monocle’s Bangkok-based Asia editor, James Chambers. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.