The Foreign Desk

After a decade of isolation from the West Bank, not to mention military bombardment from Israel, Hamas has finally reached an agreement with the Palestinian Authorities. But is it enough to bring The Strip in from the cold – and do the other big regional players even want that to happen? Christopher Lord is joined by Donald Macintyre, Dalia Hatuqa, Atef Alshaer and Farah Baker.

With the 19th Congress of the Chinese Communist party well underway, Monocle’s Hong Kong bureau chief James Chambers asks what is at stake for its leader and what are his aims for the next five years?

En Marche holds power in France, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland is challenging Angela Merkel’s uninterrupted grip on power in Germany and Greece’s radical left-wing group, Syriza, is the largest party in the Hellenic Parliament. In fact, newer movements have done pretty well of late. What’s behind their inexorable rise?

Is taking the giant leap into space still a muscle-flexing exercise for competing powers or has it become the blueprint for international co-operation? As Australia gears up to start its own space programme, we ask: what are countries looking for up there and is it worth it? Andrew Mueller talks to Susmita Mohanty, Matthew Agnew, Matthew Goodman and Commander Chris Hadfield.

Children of illegal immigrants are still fighting for their right to remain in the US – and continue to be used as a bargaining chip by supporters of President Trump’s border wall. But, New York bureau chief Ed Stocker asks, are all hopes lost?

Puerto Rico’s recent referendum on statehood saw 97 per cent vote in favour of joining the US. But it wasn’t legally binding and the devastation of Hurricane Maria has left the island with more pressing issues – and a newfound resentment for the country they voted to join. Will Puerto Rico ever become the 51st state and does anyone really want it to happen? Christopher Lord is joined by José Lopez, Brent Wilkes and Susanne Ramirez de Arellano.

In the aftermath of the attack in Las Vegas, Andrew Mueller asks if anything can make the US change its gun laws.

This week more than 90 per cent of Iraqi Kurds voted in favour of seceding from Iraq – a predictable result that has nonetheless wrongfooted everybody. Can Iraq be kept together? Does it matter if it isn’t? And could Kurdistan’s time have come at last? Andrew Mueller is joined by the KRG’s representative to the US Bayan Rahman, Kurdish journalist Mohammed Rasool and analysts Andrew Apostolou and Renad Mansour.

It wasn’t a surprise (observers had been predicting it for weeks) but, at a time when Japan is far from stable, our Asia bureau chief Fiona Wilson asks – why now?

When Hungary and Poland joined the EU in 2004 hopes were high for the newest members. But as Europe itself goes through a troubled period they have started to lean away from the liberalism they once craved during Soviet rule. Is this a sign of things to come or will the pendulum swing back in Europe’s favour?