With markets under pressure amid French political turmoil in the wake of Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu's surprise resignation, we speak with Antonio Fatas, Professor of Economics at INSEAD. In this conversation, he provides a wider context to the public finance issues the country is facing and discusses possible paths forward to resolve them. 

The United States has ambled into another government shutdown as Republicans and Democrats in Congress failed to pass a funding bill in time for the new fiscal year. It comes as the US economy is in a precarious state, with inflation rising and the job market weakening. Also in this segment: France is bracing for another day of nationwide strikes and protests as new Prime Minister Sébastian Lecornu tries to draft a budget. The rallying cry for unions is "Tax the Rich".   

The US federal government entered a shutdown at midnight on October 1, leaving as many as 750,000 federal employees furloughed each day. In this edition, we get a sense of how much this shutdown might cost the US economy, and what that would do to the employment picture in the country. Plus, FRANCE 24's Luke Shrago looks back at what happened during the last shutdown, which began in late 2018.

As the US Senate prepared to vote again on a stopgap bill to keep the government funded for a few more weeks, President Donald Trump said a government shutdown was likely and warned Democrats that the administration could take some "irreversible" actions in such a scenario, including cuts to personnel and benefits. Meanwhile, YouTube has agreed to pay Trump $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit over the freezing of his account in the wake of the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. 

As an October 1 deadline fast approaches for the US Congress to agree on a spending bill to keep the US government running, federal agencies have outlined plans for a potential shutdown. Seen as non-essential, key economic reports on jobs and inflation could be delayed, adding more uncertainty over the state of the US economy. Also in this edition, we look at the record buyout of video game maker Electronic Arts by a group of investors led by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) and Jared Kushner.

Electronic Arts, the company behind blockbuster video games such as the Sims and Madden NFL, has agreed to transfer ownership to a consortium led by Saudi Arabia's public investment fund PIF, US private equity firm Silver Lake and Jared Kushner's Affinity Partners. The $55 billion deal marks the largest leveraged buyout in history. Meanwhile, China is launching a new visa programme to attract young foreign talent, after Washington shocked the tech world with a new $100,000 fee for its H-1B visa. 

German airline giant Lufthansa says it will axe 4,000 positions by 2030, chasing higher profitability after a steep decline last year. But first: US Democrats try to save healthcare subsidies as a government shutdown looms. Plus, shares in Sony Financial Group jump on their first trading day in Japan.

France's public debt has risen above €3.4 trillion in the second quarter of this year, to 115.6 percent of GDP, new official data shows. It comes as the country's new prime minister, Sebastien Lecornu, is trying to get support from political parties, unions and businesses to draft a budget for 2026, which needs to go before parliament by October 7. Meanwhile, the country's national rail operator SNCF is introducing a new ultra-premium class as it faces increasing international competition. 

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) released its latest growth projections this Thursday, outlining the challenges facing the economies in which the development bank operates. From the impact of US tariffs, to intensifying Chinese competition on exports by way of Ukraine's wartime economy and the fiscal troubles facing countries in sub-Saharan Africa, we discuss it all with the EBRD's chief economist, Beata Javorcik.

Comedian Jimmy Kimmel returned to US airwaves on Tuesday night following his suspension over comments he made in the wake of Charlie Kirk's assassination. But local US TV station operators Sinclair and Nexstar Media Group have opted to replace his slot with other content, in line with the Trump administration's demands. In this edition, we take a look at the business considerations behind those decisions. Plus, Swiss banking giant UBS settles longstanding tax evasion charges in France.