Brics nations criticise Nato’s increased defence-spending target and Parisian swimmers return to the Seine

Brics nations blast Nato’s increasing defence-spending targets. Then: we explore the US's expanding military facilities in Greece. Plus: swimmers return to the Seine for the first time in 100 years.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Today’s in-house edition regales us with tales from the ‘Monocle Mediterraneo’ newspaper, including Corsica’s independence movement and a visit to the Greek island of Hydra.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We explore whether it’s time for European leaders to re-engage with Vladimir Putin in a bid to secure peace – or if Emmanuel Macon went out on a limb for no reason.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

As a negotiating deadline nears, we ask why some countries (UK and China) have reached a trade deal with the Trump administration while others, such as Canada and Japan, have not.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Aliona Hlivco and James Rodgers on the Ukraine trade deal with the EU, the effect of USAID cuts and Danish women facing conscription by lottery. Plus: Mark Carney’s first Canada Day as prime minister.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How can we trust intelligence when it becomes a political football? US intelligence officials and politicians spar while the reality remains obscured: does Iran still have nuclear capability?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

France’s efforts to reform its pension scheme remain at a standstill.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The US claims successful strikes as Iran’s supreme leader says that the US ‘failed to achieve anything significant’.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Istanbul’s view of the tentative ceasefire between Israel and Iran. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emmanuel Macron heralds a united Europe and why China’s competitive eating is becoming a challenge.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.