China's commerce ministry has announced it is imposing new rules limiting the export of rare earths and associated technology, including related to overseas companies using Chinese rare earths. The move comes amid long-standing trade talks with the United States and ahead of expected talks between Presidents Xi Jinping and Donald Trump later this month. Also in this edition: Ben & Jerry's co-founder Ben Cohen vows to keep fighting for his brand's social activism.

France's caretaker Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu says he'll present a draft budget bill next Monday, adding that there is still "a lot to debate".  Among the sticking points is President Emmanuel Macron's signature pension reform, which was passed in 2023. So could it possibly be suspended? If so, at what cost? Also in the segment: British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he wants the "biggest post-Brexit trade deal" with India to be implemented "as soon as humanly possible", as he begins a two-day visit to the Asian country. 

The price of an ounce of gold soared past $4,000 on Tuesday, as investors move towards the safe-haven asset in response to mounting debt and other issues threatening the standing of US dollar-denominated assets like Treasury Bonds. In this edition, we examine what has driven the price of gold up over the past few years and what has brought the value of the US dollar down. Also, the Trump administration says it cannot guarantee that all furloughed workers will receive their pay at the end of the US government shutdown.

The European Commission has moved to cut free-trade quotas by 47 percent for steel and steel products and to double out-of-tariff import duties to 50 percent, taking a leaf out of US President Donald Trump's protectionist playbook. It's a way to protect the continent's struggling industry in the face of Trump's disruptive trade policy and global oversupply of the metal. Meanwhile, Trump hosts Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney as the two sides hope to work out a trade deal. 

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.