The Fourcast

Hundreds of thousands of people were killed in a two-year between Tigrayan forces and Ethiopia's government which ended in a peace deal in 2022. 
Today the trauma and fear of war creeps back in as both sides accuse each other of launching new offensives. 
Earlier this week the TPLF announced a new coalition alongside other militias - some of whom had previously been bitter opponents.
The so-called Alliance for survival is made up of seven armed rebel groups which have been waging their own battles against the Ethiopian government in different parts of the country.
Tigrayan forces have seized three airports in Tigray, and in response Ethiopian airlines have suspended all flights to the region. 
But why are things escalating now? Is the clock ticking for the Ethiopian government? And will Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed achieve his goal of accessing the Red Sea? 
To understand things better and break it all down we’re joined by Tsedale Lemma, an Ethiopian journalist and founder of the Addis Standard and Nicholas Westcott, former director of the Royal African Society.

US presidents typically welcome foreign leaders at the White House, but on Wednesday Donald Trump laid out the red carpet to greet China’s premier Xi Jinping.In today’s episode of The Fourcast Indicators, Matt Frei and Mark Urban discuss the future being shaped by the two superpowers, what that means for geopolitics and for the economy. Joining us shortly is Bronwen Maddox, CEO of Chatham House, who has written and spoken extensively about China’s attempt to rule a post-American world, and a book called In Defence of America, on how the US has been taken for granted by the rest of the world.

Addressing the UN General Assembly in New York, Prime Minister Andy Burnham warned of an "insidious campaign" of hostile foreign interference aimed at stoking domestic division and eroding democratic trust. 
To combat the threat, Burnham announced the creation of the National Centre for Information Defence.
In this episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy is joined by disinformation expert and author Nina Jankowicz, the Chair of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament, Lord Beamish, as well as the Conservative MP Alicia Kearns.
They discuss the threat posed by Russia to the UK, the role of tech platforms and whether the new unit could risk the censoring of free speech.

Can Andy Burnham turn the UK economy around?
With just a few weeks to go until his first Budget, the new prime minister is facing a difficult economic outlook, as he deals with sluggish growth, the rising cost of living and a war in Iran which threatens to send inflation soaring.
In this episode of The Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy speaks to the former chief economist of the Bank of England Andy Haldane and Channel 4’s Economics Editor Helia Ebrahimi.
They discuss cuts to welfare, the pensions triple lock and Britain’s problem with young NEETS: those not in education, employment or training.

The EU President Ursula Von der Leyen has offered Canada ‘associate membership of the EU’, a move which Donald Trump called ‘laughable’ - but still threatened ‘serious sanctions’ as punishment.  
 
In this episode of the Fourcast, we ask what Canada’s closer ties with the EU could mean - from tighter trade and defence to what Mark Carney calls 'a beacon for other democracies.' But with the far right rising in Europe, is the Canadian Prime Minister trying to join a club that could soon fall apart?  
 
Leslie Vinjamuri, the President and CEO of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs says Carney is playing a long-game when it comes to the US, picking up support on both sides of the border by standing up to Trump, and that his decision to move closer to the EU is a ‘declaration of independence from King Trump’.  While Dr. Linn Selle, head of the Europe division of the German Council on Foreign Relations, argues that the EU is chasing Carney’s star power to help revive its appeal.