The cold will not let up. Neither will the fighting. As a conference for Ukraine brings allies and investors to Paris, Russia continues to pound critical infrastructure. How to talk rebuilding when Moscow is still destroying? We ask our panel where the priorities lie, who pays for what and at what point national security interests trump trade and business as usual.

Just when the on-field drama of the football finally seemed to be eclipsing everything else coming out of Qatar, the World Cup hosts are back in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. Doha denies any part in the piles of cash uncovered by Belgian police or the arrests that include a vice president of the European parliament. The greasing of the wheels allegedly came as the EU started to ponder visa-free travel to Qatari citizens. Why would the Gulf emirate even want the waiver?

The red carpet has been rolled out for Chinese President Xi Jinping in Riyadh. Xi is set to meet some 30 heads of state and businesses during his three-day state visit. China is the top customer for Saudi oil and both sides are keen to expand their relationship at a time of economic turmoil and geopolitical uncertainty. The Chinese leader's visit coincides with a US judge dismissing a lawsuit against the Saudi crown prince over the horrific 2018 murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Indonesia's parliament has approved legislation that will outlaw sex outside marriage. Critics are already calling this a huge setback to rights. It was endorsed by all nine political parties in a sweeping overhaul of the country's criminal code. Rights groups are protesting against the amendments, denouncing them as a crackdown on civil liberties and political freedoms, as well as a shift towards fundamentalism.

Can Iran's hardline theocracy make concessions? Since September, there has been no sign of it doing so. Now, though, is something afoot? The attorney general is floating the idea of scrapping the morality police, the force blamed for the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini. Others hint at a repeal of the 1983 law that criminalised defiance of the mandatory headscarf for women. So far, there's been no follow-up. Are the authorities serious? And will it be enough?

It's a state visit that's also a chance to gauge superpower status. French President Emmanuel Macron heads to Washington at a time when Europeans are wondering aloud if Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has not made the EU even more dependent on the United States. Arming the Ukrainians has shown just how much NATO relies on its top contributor. Europe's scramble to replace Russian oil and gas also means turning to places like the US for imports of liquefied natural gas.

Much of the world is wondering if the worst of Covid has run its course. So why, nearly four years on, is the country where the coronavirus originated still under lock and key? Rare scenes of protest out of China, like in its most populous metropolis Shanghai, have spread during a weekend when citizens clamoured for an end to draconian confinements.

Who would have thought that a Supreme Court ruling in the United States could trigger a constitutional amendment in France? After all, there is zero threat here to a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy, a right that has been on the books since 1975. Earlier this month we saw blowback in the US to that June decision by the high bench in Washington, with midterm election results pointing to record mobilisation by young people. For them, women's rights were on the ballot.

Back in September, when Iran's protest movement caught the world by surprise, conventional thinking was that with patience and ruthlessness, the regime would eventually outlast whatever came its way. After all, that has been the playbook so many times since the Islamic revolution of 1979. But is this time different?

It was always a stretch. Emmanuel Macron kept the lines of communication open with Vladimir Putin while Russia's propaganda machine and the mercenaries of Wagner fuelled anti-French sentiment in Africa. But in an interview on the sidelines of a Francophone nations summit in Tunisia, it sounds like the gloves are now off.