The 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly concluded this week but what did it achieve? What can we expect from Keir Starmer’s meeting with European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen on Wednesday? And what is behind the surge in popularity of South Korean skincare in the UK? Georgina Godwin and international broadcast correspondent, Nina dos Santos, discuss this and more of the week’s news and culture. Plus: Monocle’s Gunnar Gronlid attends the opening of the world’s first commercial CO2 capture-and-storage facility in Norway, and we get the latest on The Book Hive, a UK-based independent bookshop and publisher, with the owner, Henry Layte.

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Author and political correspondent Tessa Szyszkowitz joins Georgina Godwin to talk about the pager explosions in Lebanon, seeing Russian opposition politician Vladimir Kara-Murza in London and fashion at political conferences. Plus: Monocle’s Mae-Li Evans heads to Amsterdam for the Glue design festival and ‘Financial Times’ senior business writer Andrew Hill looks ahead to the 20th edition of the FT’s Business Book of the Year awards.

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Author Kate Kruimink joins Georgina Godwin to talk about her award-winning novella ‘Astraea’ and China Moses discusses her music ahead of the London Jazz Festival launch party. Plus: Charles Hecker on British diplomats accused of spying in Russia, soaring coffee prices in Italy and the 2024 Ig Nobel Prize.

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