The European Union is made up of 27 sovereign member states and has several governing institutions. On 1 July 2024, Viktor Orbns government will hold the presidency of the Council of the European Union for six months. This diplomatic role may present its challenges because Hungary takes a divergent view from centrist colleagues in a few areas, two of them being climate policy and support for Ukraine. And in the past Hungary has used its veto to stall votes on policies that support Ukraine. After...
Jul 04, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Artificial Intelligence is something thats all around us in our daily lives. And even if we do use it, whether thats to search for a recipe online, make a funny photo, or ask it to help with our homework, every task that AI does uses power. That power is electricity. Around the world there are thousands of data centres hosting computers that process all our requests. And as those tasks get more sophisticated, and AI becomes Super Intelligent, they will need even more electricity. But as Super AI...
Jun 27, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Caribbean country of Haiti has been blighted for years by groups of armed gangs, who have proved more than a match for the national police force, who have struggled to confront them. Now as the country descends further into lawlessness, a response to Haitis plea for international assistance may finally be at hand, in the form of a United Nations backed multi-national security force led by Kenya and supported financially by the United States. This East African country has volunteered to lead ...
Jun 20, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast In September 2022 a Christian pastor had a meeting with Kim Keon Hee, the first lady of South Korea, in her private residence. That meeting was recorded with a hidden camera and the film was released a year later. What happens in the footage is not entirely clear except that it appears to show two people - a man and a woman meeting, and one offering an expensive bagged gift to the other. This obscure video triggered a political storm so large that some say it even affected the outcome of the cou...
Jun 13, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast On the 28th of May, in a small country on the easternmost reaches of Europe, a new law came into effect. For the vast majority of people around the world, this new ruling, in a nation of fewer than 4 million inhabitants, went largely unnoticed. However, for many of the citizens of Georgia it marked a setback, throwing off course the countrys prospects of joining the European Union and aligning it more closely with Moscow. This week on The Inquiry were asking, Is Georgia turning its back on Europ...
Jun 06, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast The current record holder for the worlds biggest iceberg is the A23a. Back in 1986 this colossus broke away from an Antarctic ice sheet. This process of breaking off or calving as it is known is a natural part of the life cycle of an ice sheet. But A23a then became lodged in the Weddell Sea for more than thirty years, until four years ago a gradual melting allowed the berg to refloat. Since then its been steadily on the move, heading in the same direction as Antarctic icebergs before it, towards...
May 30, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast In February 2024, Myanmar reactivated an old law which had been on hold for 14 years, stating adult men aged up to 35, and women up to 27 years old, must serve at least two years in the countrys armed forces. The plan is to add sixty thousand new recruits annually and anyone caught avoiding conscription faces prison and a fine. Its part of the military-led governments bid to fight back in a brutal civil war, which broke out in 2021 after its coup seized power from the democratically elected part...
May 23, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Historically, Turkey has always had a strong womens rights movement, stemming from the days of the Ottoman Empire through to the emergence of the Republic of Turkey into the present day. At the top of the movements agenda now is the fight to protect women against violence from men. Its three years since Turkey pulled out of the Istanbul Convention, the Europe wide treaty on combatting violence against women and girls. The Turkish Government has its own version of domestic violence law, but there...
May 16, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast The war in Ukraine has reached a pivotal moment. After months of an apparent stalling on the frontlines, Russia has recently made a series of critical breakthroughs. Now the race is on for Kyiv to get newly approved military aid to the front line before Russian forces attack Ukraines second largest city, Kharkiv. The 60 billion dollar bill passed in Americas congress at the end of April allows for Ukraine to push back against Russian forces and prepare to mount an offensive next year. But a gap ...
May 09, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Last year the US state of Texas introduced a controversial law designed to control the huge number of undocumented migrants crossing its southern border with Mexico. The law known as Senate Bill 4 or SB4, allows local and state police the power to arrest and charge people with a newly created state crime - illegal entry. Immigration law has historically been handled by the federal government. Crossing the border is a federal crime and addressed by immigration courts that fall under the justice d...
May 02, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Beyonce has released an album that has gone straight to the top of the country music charts. The 27 tracks include the work of many collaborators from the world of country music, including Black country artist Linda Martell and Dolly Partons 1974 song Jolene. It has been so well received it has become the fastest selling album of the year. Beyonce is usually known for her pop and RnB. Her success in the country music genre has opened up a wider debate about where country music originates from, w...
Apr 25, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast An increasing number of people are dying from misuse of synthetic opioids. In 2022, the US recorded over 70,000 overdose deaths involving synthetic opioids. The government is spending billions to combat the effects of these super strength drugs. Synthetic opioids, such as Fentanyl, are made in laboratories by using materials derived from the opium poppy. China is a major hub for the production of synthetic opioids, where it then makes its way to North America through Mexican drug cartels. The la...
Apr 18, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Six months into Israels war in Gaza and with no sign of a ceasefire or breakthrough in securing the release of the 130 hostages, as yet unaccounted for, pressure is mounting on Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. There have been widespread protests in Tel Aviv and across Israel. There have been calls both from home and abroad for an early election to be called. And Israels greatest ally, the United States has sharpened its rhetoric in the past few weeks over Israels conduct of the war, wi...
Apr 11, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a neurological disease which can lead to loss of mobility and vision. Almost 3 million people worldwide are affected by it. There is no cure, but attempts are being made to accelerate the healing process with treatments to restore what the disease has damaged. At the same time, scientists have recently discovered a link between MS and a common virus that the majority of us carry in our bodies. It had been known for years that there was a link between Multiple Sclerosis...
Apr 04, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast For centuries chocolate has had a global appeal, the key ingredient of this confectionery is derived from the dried and fully fermented seed of the Theobroma cacao, whose origins began in northern Amazonia. From this tree, both cocoa solids and cocoa butter can be extracted to form the basis of chocolate. Today, its the West African countries of Cte dIvoire and Ghana that produce the bulk of the worlds supply of cocoa beans. But in recent years hotter temperatures and shifts in rainfall patterns...
Mar 28, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast In February this year, El Salvador's president Nayib Bukele won re-election with nearly 85% of the vote. His flagship policy after he came to power in 2019 has been the mass arrest of thousands of alleged gang members, mainly young men. It is estimated that over 100,000 people are now behind bars as part of his crime crackdown. The round-ups have been hugely popular with El Salvador's people as it has improved security and neighbouring countries are taking note. But critics say following Bukele'...
Mar 21, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast More than half of the worlds population currently lives in cities, and by 2050, the UN estimates that figure will rise to nearly 7 in 10 people. The world is also getting hotter, with heatwaves and wildfires becoming increasingly common. So how can we deal with the dual challenges of increasing urbanisation and extreme weather caused by climate change? Perhaps we should look downwards. For millennia, humans have taken refuge underground from the elements, predators and from war. Even today, bomb...
Mar 14, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Mexican government has won its appeal to bring a civil lawsuit against a number of American gun companies. Mexico, which has extremely restrictive gun laws, claims that the deliberate business practices of these US firms results in the illegal flow of firearms into Mexico, contributing to the gun crime violence in the country. They are now seeking as much as ten billion dollars in compensation. The gun companies, which include some of Americas oldest established names in the firearms busines...
Mar 07, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast One of the most famous of Egypts pyramids, Menkaures pyramid on the Giza plateau, is the subject of controversy after the Egyptian authorities announced plans to restore it in what the countrys Head of Antiquities has called the project of the century and Egypts gift to the world. But not everyone believes such a restoration is in keeping with the demands of proper archaeological preservation. The plans met with opposition from archaeologists and Egyptologists both inside and outside the country...
Feb 29, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Across the world fertility rates are falling and for the first time Europe is experiencing a sustained population decline. The average fertility rate for the European Union is 1.53 live births per woman. In Italy the fertility rate has remained low for the last thirty years, with an average 1.3 births per woman. Some governments, who are concerned that not enough people are being born to keep their economies functioning in the long term are spending billions on incentives and policies to try and...
Feb 22, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the next two or three years Americas National Aeronautics and Space Administration - NASA - plans to send a mission into space that will land people on the moon for the first time in over a half a century. The mission has already been pushed back and is widely expected to be delayed again. But America is not alone. Both China and India also have ambitions to land people on the lunar surface. Who is next to walk on the moon is driven by geopolitics and a desire to harness the moons resources. ...
Feb 15, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church - once a powerful marker of nationhood - is deeply split as result of the recent civil war in Tigray which exacerbated historical tensions in the church. The Church, which traces its history to the fourth century, was once the biggest denomination in Ethiopia with nearly 44 percent of the population calling themselves Orthodox Christians, but now its centrality in Ethiopian spiritual and political life - once unquestioned - appears to hang in the balance, w...
Feb 08, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast After serving nearly a year of his 26 year sentence for treason in a Nicaraguan jail, Bishop Rolando lvarez of Matagalpa was flown to Rome in January. The high profile bishop known as an outspoken critic of President Ortegas Sandinista government has been under house arrest since August 2022. He was allowed to leave the country alongside his supporter Bishop Isidoro Mora and a group of priests and seminarians, after a request from the Vatican. Its the latest development in a relationship between...
Feb 01, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast After months of tension and hostility in the Middle East over the Gaza-Israel conflict, Iran has publicly stated its desire to avoid a regional conflict. It has however displayed its military force on several fronts. There have been missile strikes. Iran targeted militant bases in western Pakistan leading to a retaliatory back-and-forth with Pakistan. With attacks on Iraq and Syria, Tehran said it was targeting Islamic State and Israel's Mossad spy agency - both of whom it claimed were behind th...
Jan 25, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Indonesias ambitious plan to move the administrative headquarters of its capital city from Jakarta to a new location on the island of Borneo, in the East Kalimantan province, is nearing the completion of its first phase. Known as Nusantara, the new citys inauguration is scheduled to coincide with Indonesias Independence Day on 17th August, the date of the final term of office for the current President Joko Widodo. The project has been deemed necessary as Jakarta is considered no longer fit for p...
Jan 18, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 1973 America ended a draft that had been in effect since before it entered the second World War, and for the last fifty years the US Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines have been an all-volunteer military. But, recently, of the four major branches which make up the US armed services, only the Marines have achieved their target for new recruits. And the biggest force, the Army, has been struggling most of all. In the past two years its missed its recruiting target by several thousand. In this ed...
Jan 11, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Something strange started happening in early 2023 in the waters off south-western Europe, where the Mediterranean sea meets the Atlantic ocean. Orcas began slamming into the sides of fishing and sailing vessels. The killer whales then dived underneath to locate and destroy the rudders used to steer the boats. Once finished, the orcas departed, leaving shocked crews and thousands of dollars of damage behind. Some of the attacks were over in a matter of minutes, but others lasted hours. Its very u...
Jan 04, 2024•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sargassum seaweed was recorded as far back as the 15th century when Christopher Columbus wrote in his expedition diaries about miles and miles and miles of dense seaweed as he crossed the Atlantic Ocean. In 2011, a great mass of this seaweed emerged, stretching from West Africa to the Gulf of Mexico, a phenomenon known as the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt. Since then its been washing up on coastlines in massive amounts, causing a big impact on communities whose economy relies heavily on the tour...
Dec 28, 2023•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Toyota has unveiled a revolutionary electric car battery, able to travel 1,200 kilometres in one go and can be charged in just ten minutes. Toyotas CEO Koji Sato said that commercialisation of solid state batteries is a thing of the future... now within reach, changing the future of cars". The company also claims to be on the brink of being able to manufacture them. So is this, as some are claiming, a watershed moment in car making? Can these new batteries now be produced at scale? What impact w...
Dec 21, 2023•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast Tensions between South American neighbours Venezuela and Guyana have ratcheted up a notch in recent weeks over the disputed oil rich region of Essequibo. The territory, which is roughly the size of Florida, currently makes up around two thirds of Guyana and vast oil reserves were discovered here in 2015 which have helped make Guyanas economy one of the fastest growing in the world. Essequibo has come under the authority of Guyana and before it British Guiana for more than a century, but Venezuel...
Dec 14, 2023•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
