The Real Story BBC World Service

The Paris climate agreement in 2015 aimed to limit global warming to 1.5C. But have politics and lobbying got in the way of urgently needed progress? Is it too late for some nations? There has been much scepticism among delegates at COP28 as to whether the hosts are honest brokers in this process and if the money pledged by the wealthiest nations is enough to mitigate this crisis.
Shaun Ley is joined by:
Rachel Kyte served as Special Representative for the UN Secretary-General, and is a long standing advocate for sustainable energy. She was vice president of the World Bank and is a visiting professor at the Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford in the UK.
Cassie Flynn, who's now global director of climate change at the UN Development Programme. Cassie Flynn was senior adviser to the Prime Minister of Fiji when he was presiding at COP23 in 2017.
Adil Najam, Professor of International Relations and Earth and Environment at Boston University. He's originally from Pakistan. In the summer, Professor Najam became President of WWF, the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Also featuring:
Amos Wemanya, is senior advisor on climate and energy at Power Shift Africa, a pan African non governmental organisation from Kenya.
Vishal Prasad, campaign director of Pacific Islands' Students Fighting Climate Change from Fiji.
Produced by Rumella Dasgupta and Max Horberry.
(Photo: Activists protest to demand loss and damage payments by rich countries to poor countries affected by climate change at COP28, Dubai. Credit: Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Geert Wilders has been described as the Dutch Donald Trump. Earlier this month his far-right Freedom Party pulled off a surprise election victory in the Netherlands. Following Mr Wilder's win, we look at what is driving right-wing populism in Europe. Italy has a right-wing populist prime minister. In Hungary there is Viktor Orban, Prime Minister since 2010, with his particular brand of nationalist populism, and in Finland the far-right Finns party is now part of the governing coalition.
Are some of the factors that secured Geert Wilders’ win also what is helping other right-wing populists in Europe? In a European context, does right-wing populism differ from far-rights politics?
Shaun Ley is joined by: Catherine Fieschi, a comparative political analyst specialising in populism, far right and authoritarian politics and a Fellow at the Robert Schuman Centre at the European University Institute in Florence; Stanley Pignal, The Economist's Brussels bureau chief and writes their Charlemagne column on Europe; Sanne van Oosten, a political scientist at the University of Oxford, Centre on Migration, Policy and Society.
Producer: Max Horberry and Ellen Otzen
(Photo: Dutch far-right politician and leader of the PVV party Geert Wilders meets the press after the PVV won the most seats in the elections, The Hague, Netherlands, 24 Nov, 2023. Credit: Piroschka van de Wouw/Reuters)

As the war in Gaza continues, it may seem the worst possible time to revisit the idea of a permanent political resolution to the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict. US President Joe Biden however, says a two-state solution is still possible. So how realistic is that aspiration? If not two states, what alternatives are there and which country, if any, is trusted by both sides to broker a deal? Amidst the violence, is there any reason to hope?
Shaun Ley is joined by: Anshel Pfeffer, an Israeli journalist based in Jerusalem who writes for the Economist and the Israeli newspaper Haaretz; Tahani Mustafa, who is British-Palestinian and a senior Palestine analyst at the International Crisis Group; Dennis Ross, who was Middle East Envoy in Clinton administration and later served as Special Assistant to President Obama on his National Security Council.
Also featuring:
Danny Danon, Israeli member of the Knesset for the Likud party
Hiba Husseini, former Legal Adviser to the Palestinian Liberation Organisation and current chair of the Legal Committee to Final Status Negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis.
Producer: Max Horberry and Ellen Otzen
(Photo: Olive tree outside Jerusalem's old city. Credit: Getty Images)

Over 1 billion people worldwide are obese, according to the World Health Organization. If current trends continue, half the world could be obese or overweight by 2035. The WHO refers to it as an epidemic. Recent data shows that over 40% of Americans are living with obesity. But obesity is not just a problem in Western countries: In China, rapid economic growth has been accompanied by an alarming rise in obesity. There have been major changes to lifestyle, diet and exercise habits. Recent data suggest that more than half of Chinese adults are now overweight or obese, with obesity rates likely to increase. In India, obesity is spreading and experts warn of a health emergency unless it’s tackled urgently.
Recently new injectable weight-loss drugs have emerged that show promising results: Wegovy is an obesity treatment that is taken once a week which tricks people into thinking that they are already full, so they end up eating less and losing weight. The drug was approved by regulators in the US in 2021. It was also approved for use in the UK on the national health service earlier this year after research suggested users could shed more than 10% of their body weight. But it’s an expensive drug and in trials, users often put weight back on after stopping treatment. If action is not taken, more than half the world's population will be classed as obese or overweight by 2035, the World Obesity Federation warns. More than four billion people will be affected, with rates rising fastest among children, its report says. Low or middle-income countries in Africa and Asia are expected to see the greatest rises.
What policies should governments put in place to curb obesity? What are the wider systemic factors that contribute to unhealthy eating and obesity? What can be done to tackle the global obesity epidemic?
Shaun Ley is joined by:
Dr Binayak Sinha, an endocrinologist with a special interest in obesity and diabetes.
Rachel Nugent is associate professor at the Department of Global Health at the University of Washington.
Dr Fatima Cody Stanford studies obesity at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School in the United States.
Also featuring:
Julianne Williams from the Europe and Central Asia regional office at The World Health Organisation.
Grace Victory, blogger and body positivity activist.
Stephanie Yeboah, body positivity campaigner; and Bethany Rutter, a writer who blogs about plus size fashion.
Produced by Max Horberry and Ellen Otzen
(Photo: Getty)

The prospect of a world without work - that was the vision offered up by Elon Musk this month. The US tech billionaire has predicted that artificial intelligence will eventually mean that no one will have to work. Mr Musk suggested that society could reach a point where “no job is needed” and “you can do a job if you want a job, but the AI will do everything”.
Contrasting with the idea of the zero-hour working week, Indian software billionaire and Infosys founder NR Narayana Murthy - says that young people should be ready to work 70 hours a week to help the country's development.
Since the pandemic, many companies allow their employees to work from home. Others have moved to a four-day working week, citing benefits such as increased productivity and significant financial savings for employees on transport and childcare. But some employers insist the shorter working week doesn’t work - saying employees ended up having more stressful workdays, and feeling exhausted once they reached their scheduled days off.
How many hours should a person work in a week? Is a world without work desirable? If AI will be capable of doing many jobs, should employees be fearing the future - or take advantage of these changes, and strive for new ways of working? What’s the future of work?
Shaun Ley is joined by:
Andrew Palmer, who writes The Economist's Bartleby column, which explores management and the world of work
Brendan Burchell, professor in social sciences at the University of Cambridge. He's done a lot of work on the way labour markets affect individuals
Anat Lechner, clinical professor of management and organisations at New York University
Also featuring:
Jayati Ghosh, professor of economics at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Elliot Keck, Head of Campaigns at the Taxpayers' Alliance
Gary Conroy, CEO of Five Squirrels, a company in the skincare industry which operates on a four-day working week
Produced by Max Horberry and Ellen Otzen
(Photo: Getty)

The Israel-Gaza war has caused reverberations around the world and diplomatic efforts are intensifying to stop the conflict from escalating. Iran has warned Israel that the Middle East could spiral out of control if it does not stop strikes on Gaza. It says the US is also "to blame" for providing military support to Israel. Top US officials are warning the conflict could spread. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has talked about a "likelihood of escalation" from Iranian proxies, such as Hezbollah or Hamas, and said the US was "taking every measure" to ensure it can defend" Israelis and US citizens. How high is the risk of the conflict escalating across the region? What are countries doing to prevent an escalation? Is there a real danger of a general war in the Middle East that could pull in Iran, the US and even Saudi Arabia?
Shaun Ley is joined by:
Aaron David Miller, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
Mirette Mabrouk , Senior Fellow and Director of the Egypt and the Horn of Africa program at the Middle East Institute
Sanam Vakil, Director of the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House
Also featuring:
Dr Seyed Mohammed Marandi, professor of English literature and Orientalism at the University of Tehran
Producer: Max Horberry and Ellen Otzen
(Photo: An Israeli artillery unit fires during a military drill in the annexed Golan Heights, 02 Nov, 2023. Credit: Ayal Margolin/EPA)