What happens when there is that knock at the door? Moscow's hastily-organised referendums in occupied parts of Ukraine – complete with house-to-house searches of ballot recipients – take the concept of "get out the vote" to a whole new level. We ask about turnout numbers that already beggar belief and what happens after Vladimir Putin's Friday address scheduled before a joint session of the Russian parliament.

How far to the right will Italy go? The new face of European politics is called Georgia Meloni. Her fascist-rooted Brothers of Italy party has swept to power, overshadowing her hard-right coalition partners Matteo Salvini and Silvio Berlusconi and routing the centre-left, which finished under 20 percent. Why did voters go for a Meloni whose allies include illiberal parties in power in Hungary and Poland, along with Spain's far-right Vox?

There's been no let-up in Iran's biggest protests since 2019, which have seen unprecedented footage of public burnings of the hijab. Despite disruptions to the internet, popular unrest has flared for a sixth day across the country over the death in custody of Mahsa Amini. The 22-year old Kurdish woman had been detained by the morality police for improperly wearing her hijab. We ask our panel: how far will this women's rights movement go?

When Russia invaded Ukraine in February, it deployed 160,000 troops. Vladimir Putin has now called up 300,000 after major setbacks  in Ukraine, while coupling his announcement with his most overt nuclear threat to the West. Our panel analyses Biden's answer to Putin and the world at the UN General Assembly. One year after the messy US pullout from Afghanistan, what's Washington's stature in the face of Russia's nuclear-sized threats over Ukraine and the knock-on effect on US-China tensions over Taiwan?

How does a Russia in retreat read the room at the United Nations General Assembly? On the day that world leaders gather in New York for UN Week, Vladimir Putin's proxies are unveiling plans for hastily-staged referendums to annex conquered parts of Ukraine that are now under assault from a counter-attack.

Ursula von der Leyen's message was loud and clear in her State of the European Union address. To drive home the point, the EU Commission President, sporting the yellow and blue of the Ukrainian flag, had Ukraine's First Lady as her guest of honour. We ask about von der Leyen's message and the cost of a quick segue away from Russian oil and gas.

After Edinburgh, King Charles III goes to Belfast. In a United Kingdom where the monarch plays the symbolic role of unifying figure, the new king of Great Britain and Northern Ireland arguably has a taller order here than in Scotland, where nationalists so far want to keep the crown with or without independence.

Is it a turning point? After weeks of warning of a counter-offensive in the south, Ukraine has caught the Kremlin off guard with the reclaiming of vast swathes of the north, pushing the front away from the country's second city of Kharkiv. We ask what just happened, if there's more to come or if Kyiv is going to struggle to consolidate its gains.

Brazil is celebrating its bicentennial. Four weeks before he stands for re-election, President Jair Bolsonaro is opting for a decidedly martial tone to celebrate the 200th anniversary of a South American giant that has experienced plenty of ups and downs in the 36 years since the generals made way for a return to democracy.

It's day one on the job for Britain's new prime minister and as Russia squeezes natural gas exports, Liz Truss faces a wartime economy. How to keep the lights on across the Channel? How to rein in inflation? As Europeans work to pool their energy purchases, tax windfall profits and collectively ease costs for consumers, will they include Britain and their now Brexiteer PM in that conversation?