Julie Klinger, Associate Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and Edson Krenak, Brazil program manager at Cultural Survival, believe that local communities need to play a bigger role in new and existing mining projects.

"What we see is a production of electric cars, digital technologies being served to the global markets, while the communities where their territories are serving these minerals are completely left behind without clean water, safe environment, without legal security," warns Krenak. "They are really facing a lot of problems for the profit, for the good or the privilege of the global north."

Klinger says local populations should also have a say in what the raw materials are being used for. "For example, lithium of course is important for renewable energy technologies. Lithium is also used in a range of advanced weapons applications such as drones, smart bombs, assault rifles and tanks as well. And so if communities are going to be asked to host a mining or heavy industrial operation, that community should also know what the ultimate end use of the material is."

Klinger argues that growing demand doesn't require new mining projects. "Most of the material, including designated critical minerals and elements that have been dug out of the ground for the past few centuries, still exist somewhere on the surface of the earth (...) And where these materials still exist, they actually are another kind of longstanding environmental health problem that needs to be cleaned up."

"This race of more and more extraction is not building a healthy environment for our planet," agrees Krenak. "What are the new futures we are building with this new transition? We are not dreaming of a healthy future, a healthy planet for us, for our [future] generations."

But it's an approach that could lead to "potential catastrophe", according to Karl Claxton, Professor of Economics at the University of York. "Instead of the US getting to grips with the fact that the healthcare system encourages and incentivises very high-cost medicine, instead of that, they've done a deal (...) I don't think it's going to fix the problem in the US. So I don't think US citizens will be huge beneficiaries. The rest of the world, particularly the high and middle-income countries are going to suffer unless we resist this pressure. And I think the pharmaceutical sector is going to suffer too."

Claxton is sharply critical of a deal struck between the US and UK governments on drug prices. "This deal effectively doubles how much we are going to pay for all new drugs (...) Within three years, the additional cost of this deal will exceed the entire value of all [British] pharmaceutical and medical device exports to the US. So this is a really, really bad deal."

He says fixing international pricing of pharmaceuticals should be a top health priority for all governments. "The impact of paying unsustainable prices for the new medicines is that all the other parts of the healthcare system that deliver really important benefits across the board end up having to accommodate that."

Also in the show, France says it will be the first EU country to reimburse some obese patients for weight-loss drugs Wegovy and Mounjaro. Claxton believes the fast-growing sector offers potential health benefits and savings, but the long-term benefits have yet to be proven, and must be equally distributed. "These are potentially very valuable drugs (...) let's also make sure that those that really need it, that can benefit them and can reduce costs for our healthcare systems to benefit others, that they get access. In other words, let's not allow these drugs to be rationed according to who can afford to pay." 

Also in the show, we bring you a report about Cape Town, where plans for new data centres are being met with pushback amid concerns about rising electricity costs, noise, pollution and – critically for South Africa – water stress.

Warren Lowell, Assistant Professor of Human and Organizational Development at Vanderbilt University, says the problems of housing affordability and availability have been building for decades. "I think it got really bad coming out of the financial crisis, in the late 2000s. That's a period where we saw large drops and declines in our construction, in building of homes across all types of availability. 

We across the country haven't been able to keep pace or even catch up to the deficits that we created during that period." 

He says the pandemic also impacted the market. "Families that didn't make those moves during that period are now locked into lower mortgage rates that are desirable (...) This kind of leads to a backing-up, a traffic jam, if you will, across homeownership rates. So folks who really want to get into and unlock that wealth development that they can get from homeownership are locked out often. So we see a trickle effect down; higher incomes are renting at older ages than we would have expected typically." 

Lowell says: "We all kind of have this aim and ambition of owning property for ourselves, and growing wealth in that way. The downside is that housing as a social good, as a thing that we all need, sort of gets put to the wayside. And as this push to use housing, to buy a second house, to invest in real estate among our neighbours continues to grow, I worry that housing as a social good becomes less of a focus for us." 

Also in the show: we bring you a report from our correspondents Wassim Cornet and Pierrick Leurent, on how essential workers like nurses and teachers are being priced out of the neighbourhoods they serve in Los Angeles. 

Valérie Faudon, executive director of the French Nuclear Energy Society (SFEN) says the industry has to overcome sometimes negative public perceptions by proving that nuclear energy is safe. "It's one of the safest means of producing energy, in the same way that airplanes are one of the safest means of transportation. So the way the industry has addressed this is first by major transparency of events, and also very strong controls over the industry."

She says nuclear power can address two of Europe's biggest concerns when it comes to energy – sustainability and independence. "It's a low carbon source," she explains. "It doesn't produce any greenhouse gases during production, fission doesn't produce CO2." 

European countries also have the technology and manpower to be self-sufficient as they expand their nuclear power generation, according to Faudon. "We have about half a million skilled workers in Europe to build nuclear plants. If you take France, we are completely independent. That means we can build our own facilities – we have the factories and engineering centres to build our own equipment. And we also have our whole supply chain, to take uranium ore and transform it into usable nuclear fuel, which is very important." 

Also in the show, we bring you a report about how China's investment in low-cost reactors is turning it into a nuclear energy powerhouse. 

Andrew Mall, associate professor of music at Northeastern University, says the trend of dynamic ticket pricing is likely to continue. "There are lots and lots of fans who are indeed willing to pay those higher prices. So as long as there are fans who are willing to pay those higher prices, the ticketing giants that run the industry (...) will continue offering those services to artists. Are some fans being priced out of concerts? Yes, absolutely. So fans who aren't able or willing to spend hundreds or even thousands of dollars or euros on going to concerts will have fewer opportunities to see the biggest artists perform." 

He often advises music lovers to consider acts at small and medium-sized venues. "The smallest venues are facing increased pressure due to lots of forces. But medium-sized venues are actually seeing really great business. So venues that range from 500 to 3,500 patrons, concerts at those venues are often selling very well. They usually do not employ dynamic pricing (...) I do think there is an opening." 

Watch moreSuperstar Céline Dion breaks presale ticket record

Mall says live music remains a worthwhile investment for many people. "One thing I think that really does resonate is people are tired of feeling like their social media feeds and music feeds on the streaming services that they use, people are tired of feeling like they're being fed stuff. When you go to a concert, it's real. There are humans up on the stage, making the music, singing, dancing, performing for you, and you're surrounded by hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of other people all enjoying the same experience. That's not something we get very often in other realms of our lives." 

He believes artificial intelligence can be a powerful creative tool, but that it comes with risks. "What is controversial is using AI to create entire songs. Using AI to deepfake or mimic established artists. Using AI to establish entirely new artists (...) The more AI-produced music there is, the less opportunities there are for performers, songwriters and musicians to make a living." 

Watch moreWorld's worst energy crisis? Iran war sparks scramble for alternatives to Gulf oil

Leah Fahy, senior economist in the China team at Capital Economics, says China's diverse energy mix has cushioned some of the effects of the global energy shock. "Even for China, a big spike in energy and oil prices is a bad thing, and it's going to have some negative impact domestically (...) China's economy is much less dependent on oil and natural gas. About 60 percent of its energy comes from coal, and it's got a big and quickly growing renewable energy infrastructure as well. So when you place China in the context of other countries, it's seeing a much smaller shock to energy prices than everywhere else in the world." 

She says the crisis has highlighted Beijing's dominance in clean energy technology. "I think the big picture, both within China and globally, we're going to see a surge in demand for these new green technologies, and China kind of dominates production of these goods. So it could be a pretty significant upside to China's exports. We've estimated that just with a pickup in global demand for electric vehicles alone, autos could add about 1 percentage point to China's export growth this year." 

Fahy says that beyond the economic impact, the Trump administration's shifting approach to foreign and trade policy has opened a door to China. "You're seeing increasingly Xi Jinping and the Chinese leadership more broadly trying to place China in this elevated global role, both as a sort of global arbiter, negotiator and also in some instances, the defender of global free trade, which is not the position you would have expected China to be putting itself in a few years ago." 

Speaking to FRANCE 24, Balazs Szent-Ivanyi, reader in politics at Aston University's Centre for Europe, says the incoming Hungarian government can't usher in change overnight.

"The Tisza party has a very long manifesto, which is fairly rare in Hungarian politics – Fidesz, for example, had no manifesto at all. We see quite a lot of promises, many of them actually relate to increasing spending, which seems difficult to enact at the moment. The budget deficit for this year is forecast around 5-5.5 percent, and that doesn't necessarily take into account the extra spending that the war in Iran is creating." 

Szent-Ivanyi says that in the medium-term, Magyar could launch an effort to join the eurozone. Integrating into the shared currency bloc "would bring a lot of certainty and increased credibility for the government's economic policies (...) The problem is that Hungary currently doesn't fulfil any of the Maastricht criteria required for introducing the euro. So there's quite a lot of work to do there."

Harjeet Singh, Strategic Adviser at the Fossil Fuel Treaty Initiative and Founding Director of Satat Sampada, says the conflict "has exposed a fatal flaw, that is Asia's overwhelming and unsustainable reliance on imported fossil fuels. For the Global South, transitioning to renewables is no longer just about meeting climate targets – it's about energy security and sovereignty." 

He cites Nepal and Pakistan as examples of countries which have already adopted renewable energy sources and are better equipped to withstand the shock. "Nepal has electrified its transport sector much faster. We've seen Pakistan importing 35 gigawatts of renewable energy, and a quarter of the population that is now  dependent on those renewable energy sources are able to deal with  the crisis much better. So  there is also a lesson in this crisis." 

While high petrol prices are pushing more French drivers towards electric vehicles, Singh says consumer demand can drive policy change. "We see that happening in the region, and in India in particular the middle class is very inclined to adopt EVs (...)  If you compare what's happening in the West, where EVs are generally luxury passenger cars, whereas the revolution that we see in the Global South and particularly India is heavily driven by two-wheelers and three-wheelers." 

Kearns says many women undergoing IVF report taking unpaid sick leave to keep up with medical appointments and treatment. "This was having a huge impact on individuals, but also on the workplace as well, because we know that short-notice sickness absence is going to disrupt an organisation and a team more than having an open conversation about flexible working, which is what we advise."

Without support, Jackson warns, "we are going to see more and more people dropping out or falling behind, because of a culture of not feeling like people can speak up about what they're going through, and the logistical and practical support that they need at the time." 

Kearns works to help organisations become “fertility friendly”. "That means that there is a clear policy or guidance in place, something in writing, to show employees what they are entitled to (...)  There's a big piece of work around breaking down stigma and raising awareness and creating a really safe culture that allows people to feel psychologically safe to share that they're going on this journey and to know that it won't impact their careers."

Jackson says there are broader lessons to be learned about how the healthcare industry treats women. "I think women's health has started to get a lot more attention in the last couple of years, but there's a long way to go. I think we have a generation of extraordinary women who are quietly managing some of the hardest medical experiences of their lives, while leading teams and closing deals and running companies, and they deserve more than silence. I think women's health deserves a lot more investment."  

Christian Henderson, lecturer in International Relations and Middle East Studies at Leiden University, says any concerted targeting of water facilities would represent an escalation in hostilities. "The Gulf states are growing economies, large economies, they have large tourism sectors and large service economies. All of these activities depend on water in some form or another – either directly as drinking water but also all kinds of other uses."

Regional governments say they're not worried about food shortages, but Henderson warns there will be knock-on effects. "In any type of war, you will always find problems with food security because it just causes a huge amount of disruption to supply chains, deliveries, logistics. So Iran will be facing some problems in terms of food supplies. And moreover, and this will affect everyone, just the general inflationary shock that will be created by this war will spill over into food prices – within Iran, in the Gulf states, and across the global economy."

Watch moreCentral banks confront spectre of inflation as Iran war escalates

Henderson says the conflict could be a turning point for Gulf economies. "This war has really illustrated how, despite the huge fiscal capacity of the Gulf states, and their logistical sector, there's still an exposure to geopolitics and the instabilities of the region. And the only real means of mitigating that is by increasing domestic production."

Also in the show, our correspondents Chloé Domat and Amira Souilem report on Qatar's efforts to become more self-sufficient by investing in desert farms. 

Harris tells FRANCE 24 that he expects the United States to act “in good faith” in implementing a stalled EU trade deal, despite President Donald Trump’s shifting threats on tariffs. He describes the pact as “imperfect,” but maintains that “having an agreement in times of uncertainty is always better than not having an agreement.”

The Tánaiste says he still sees the US as a reliable trading partner. “When you strip away the noise or the headlines, and actually look at the detail, the trading relationship between the European Union and the United States, between Ireland and the US, is still strong, is still robust, is actually still growing. That’s despite all the challenges and headwinds. It’s important to judge an administration based on what they actually do, on substance, and we’re navigating our way through this.”

Harris – who is set to serve as Ireland’s Prime Minister from November 2027 – says he disagrees with other global leaders who have suggested that the multilateral world order is coming to an end. “I believe it’s under pressure, like it hasn’t been in any recent time. But therefore there’s an onus on us who believe in it to champion it, to speak up (…) No matter how big or small a country you are, the challenges and the opportunities of our time cannot be addressed alone. We are all way more interdependent than sometimes politics likes to suggest.”

The Chinese brand Zeekr is among newcomers hoping to make inroads. Lothar Schupet, CEO of Zeekr Europe, says that many Chinese manufacturers are "providing – simply for the money people will spend – much more car, much more technology, more performance, and also in our case more craftsmanship and luxury." As the company prepares to start selling EVs in France, he says he's confident Zeekr can compete with more established carmakers in the premium market. "We are still at the starting point of building a brand (...) Our goal is very clearly defined: we want to be one of the top players in Europe." 

Schupet says that EU tariffs of up to 45 percent on Chinese-made cars were a small roadbump in the firm's European rollout. "We are looking into options, in terms of local production and getting even more efficient. But what is clear is that tariffs have not held us back." 

Schupet said a recent EU U-turn on banning the sale of new petrol and diesel cars by 2035 won't stop the industry from becoming more sustainable. "Electrification and the adoption of electric mobility is happening. With an extension of CO2 emissions for a few years further, that will not change."

He believes that consumers, not regulators, will drive demand. "When you look into the consumer value – the total cost of ownership – there are a lot of advantages where the consumer will decide. And we see (...) even in very traditional countries like Germany and France, now the EV adoption is generating more acceleration, more pace." 

Jacob Parakalis, Research Leader for Defence Strategy, Policy, and Capabilities at RAND Europe, says Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 "focused attention on the need to increase Europe's defences and invest in capabilities across land, sea and air domains, cyber security and resilience".

Watch moreTackling under-investment in EU defence: Is the bloc putting its money where its mouth is?

He says the bigger budgets are targeting specific needs. "A lot of it is going to reinvigorate the industrial base. One thing that the war in Ukraine has revealed is the speed with which existing stocks of weapons are exhausted. So being able to manufacture large numbers of artillery shells, to repair damaged armoured vehicles, to maintain fighter aircraft to get them back in the fight, to train and sustain forces of all types, is really critical. The burn rate with which weapons and ammunition are used is far beyond anything that Europe has experienced in the last 30 or 40 years. So that kind of investment is really critical in order to credibly be able to be prepared for a long, conventional war."

US President Donald Trump's threats over Greenland have also put a spotlight on Europe's reliance on American technology. "I think we're talking about years into decades" before the EU could cut those ties, Parakalis tells us.

Watch moreGreenland crisis further damages transatlantic ties: Time for a major strategic rethink?

The US is the top exporter of arms in the world, and Parakalis says that's partly because of the way its technology is sold. "It's about the way the weapons are knitted together with systems of sensors, it's about the enabling equipment. The US sells a coherent network, it sells a system of systems that allows these things to work together. Very few countries sell all the individual pieces of a system of systems. China is getting close, Russia does although its performance in Ukraine has broadly left something to be desired. Europe, collectively, is close. But the problem is there are different European companies producing different, sometimes competitive and sometimes not wholly overlapping elements of these systems, so it's harder for there to be a singular European offering which is competitive with the singular American offering." 

Professor Jon Danielsson, Director of the Systemic Risk Centre at the London School of Economics, says he is "fairly certain" the market is at the top of an AI bubble, whose current levels of growth and investment cannot be sustained. "The real question is if it's only stock market investors, then those investors will of course suffer significant losses (...) But the bigger threat to societies is if it's financed by borrowing money – which is increasingly the case – and especially if banks are providing the money. So what happens is if some of these investments sour, which I think is clearly likely, and if banks end up suffering significant losses, that itself can threaten the stability of the financial system."

He believes comparisons to the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s are well-founded. "Every technology bubble we have seen over the past 150 years is similar. We saw the telegraphs, electricity, the internet, telephones, railroads – they all meant that a large number of investors piled into this technology. The benefit to society was significant (...) but by far most of these investors lost everything, and only a handful ended up being winners. I see many parallels with the AI bubble today."

Watch moreAI's insatiable appetite for cash, energy and data: Bubble ahead?

When it comes to the technology itself, Danielsson says his biggest concern is "how the private sector is rapidly rolling out AI and spending lots of money developing and using the technology, while the public sector is far behind. I've been following this space for a long time, and I've never seen as much difference between the capabilities of the public and private sectors."

Danielsson admits: "I use AI very extensively. I don't know how I did my work before AI happened!" He says that despite some concerns, the technology is rapidly becoming inescapable. "I suspect all of us will end up being very big users of AI going forward, and those who resist or don't want to use AI might find themselves on the wrong side of their careers, if not history."

Raoul Jacquand, Vice President for Strategic Alliances and External Affairs at Alcatel Submarine Networks, says that undersea telecoms infrastructure is a new geopolitical and economic battleground. "This infrastructure carries 99 percent plus of the world's internet traffic. So it is of strategic importance – it can damage societies, companies at large, if indeed this infrastructure is in danger on a large scale." 

Jacquand notes that artificial intelligence is also reshaping the map of cable networks. "AI will bring more traffic to transit between data centres. And data centres today need to be located where energy is cheap and abundant."