Yemen's Houthi rebels claimed attacks on an oil tanker and another commercial vessel in the Red Sea on Tuesday, the first such attacks in weeks.  The Iran-backed militants started targeting merchant ships last year in support of Hamas in Gaza, prompting many shipping companies to take a longer route via the southern tip of the African continent. FRANCE 24's Yuka Royer speaks with Jakob P. Larsen, head of maritime safety and security at BIMCO, about the heightened risks in the region. 

The union representing 45,000 dockworkers in the United States announced a strike at midnight on Tuesday in American ports all the way from Maine to Texas. The workers are asking for better pay and guarantees against automation as the shipping industry has seen skyrocketing profits this year. The industrial action could cause higher inflation and shortages ahead of the US presidential election. Also, Ivory Coast responds to soaring global cocoa prices by increasing its buyers' price by 20 percent.

The wholesale price of butter in France hit a record high in September, rocketing to €8,180 compared to €4,260 a year earlier, as an epidemic among cows affected production. But first: a new, common digital payment system has been launched in France, Belgium and Germany, backed by 16 major banks.  The platform, "Wero", enables person-to-person cross-border payments instantly, at no additional cost, as EU banks aim to regain sovereignty over digital payments. 

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development issued an updated report this Thursday on growth prospects in all the regions where it operates. Its Chief Economist Beata Javorcik spoke to FRANCE 24 specifically about the challenges facing the economies of conflict-hit countries like Lebanon, Ukraine and Russia.

As France's newly-formed government faces pressure to finalise its spending plans for 2025, Budget Minister Laurent Saint-Martin says the state of public finances is worse than was expected only a few days ago, and that this year's budget shortfall could top 6 percent of GDP – far above the government's earlier estimate of 5.1 percent. Plus, Commerzbank has named Bettina Orlopp as its new CEO, as it tries to fend off a possible hostile takeover by Italy's UniCredit. 

Executives from Volkswagen and labour leaders are meeting this Wednesday in Hanover to discuss a new labour agreement. In the face of increased competition and high costs, the company has called for drastic cost-cutting measures. In this edition, we look at why the storied German industrial champion has hit a rough patch. Plus, our correspondents in Germany head to a town that's depended on VW's good health since the 1960s and is now planning for the worst.

In a first-of-its-kind lawsuit, the US state of California has sued ExxonMobil for fraud over plastic recycling. The state's attorney general accuses the oil giant of deceiving the public for decades by promoting recycling as a solution to plastic waste management while knowing that it isn't viable to do so at scale. FRANCE 24's Yuka Royer speaks with Alyssa Johl, Vice President of Legal and General Counsel at the Center for Climate Integrity. 

The governor of the People's Bank of China, Pan Gongsheng, has announced new measures meant to boost the country's ailing economy. China's central bank is lowering its benchmark interest rate as well as reducing the cash requirement that banks are supposed to hold in a bid to free up lending capacity and reach the government's target of 5 percent growth this year. Also in this edition, a new report outlines the deforestation threats in Malaysia's Sarawak state and what the EU can do about it.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has warned against a "hostile takeover" of Commerzbank, after Italy's UniCredit revealed it had significantly increased its stake in Germany's second-largest bank, from 9 percent to 21 percent. Plus, with New York's Climate Week underway alongside the UN General Assembly, FRANCE 24's Yuka Royer speaks to Gregory Renand, head of the Z Zurich Foundation, about the need to boost measures to help vulnerable communities adapt to the consequences of climate change. 

France's new economic team is led by two young and relatively unknown members of President Macron's pro-business coalition. They face a host of fiscal challenges as they try to reduce deficits without raising taxes on France's middle class.