Last week, the United Nations General Assembly held a vote to condemn Russia’s illegal annexation of four regions in Ukraine. The resolution was supported by 143 countries but four voted against and 35 abstained.

As bombs reigned down on Ukrainian cities and killed civilians, why is it that 39 nations either still support Russia, or remain neutral in this war?

Today, our International Editor Lindsey Hilsum tells us about the countries that still back Moscow and explains whether any of them are beginning to change their minds as the war doesn’t go to plan for Putin.

Produced by: Freya Pickford

Liz Truss was always inheriting a difficult job, with a war in Ukraine, a cost of living crisis and a party in need of a fresh start after 12 years in power and the scandals of Boris Johnson.

She’s certainly made a mark. Kwasi Kwarteng’s mini budget has been anything but mini, it’s had a huge impact on the markets, mortgages, gilts, and the pound.

It’s also had an impact on how her party and the public view her and that’s what could be really lethal.

Today, our political editor, Gary Gibbon, takes us through the first few weeks of Liz Truss’s leadership and how it could be ending before it’s even got started.

Produced by Nina Hodgson and Ka Yee Mak

Russia's Vladimir Putin is obsessed with his legacy. He has compared himself to Peter the Great, the tsar who founded St Petersburg and created the modern Russian empire.

That was Putin’s plan but with Ukrainian forces now pushing back and Russian men fleeing the country, it’s not going the way he had hoped.

So is he losing his hold on power?

We speak to Angela Stent, an author, professor and an expert in all things Russia and Putin. She explains that while Putin’s legacy is damaged and his hold on power is slightly weaker - it’s too early to say if this is the beginning of the end for the Russian leader.

Sources: AP Archive

Produced by Freya Pickford

Russian President Vladmir Putin is expected to announce the annexation of four regions of Ukraine - just like he did with Crimea in 2014. But this isn’t total deja vu, because this time, he’s on the backfoot and he's in trouble. 

Following months of stalemate after his failure to take the capital Kyiv, Putin’s forces were surprised by a Ukrainian counteroffensive that either pushed his forces back, or made them flee.

And so now, he’s had to hold sham referendums and initiate a partial mobilisation to try to turn things around. But can he?

In today’s episode, we speak to our presenter and Europe editor Matt Frei in Kyiv about how this point in the war is arguably one of the most pivotal moments for all sides in this bitter conflict.

Produced by: Nina Hodgson, Heidi Pett 

Camera in Kyiv: Ray Queally

Vladimir Putin has ordered Russia’s first military mobilisation since World War Two. He also warned he would use "all means [he has]" to defend Russian territory, raising concerns around the world and saying it wasn’t a bluff.

With the United Nations General Assembly taking place this week, Nato leaders attacked Putin’s announcement. But Nato-Russia relations weren’t always quite so frosty. 

In this episode we speak to Lord Robertson, the tenth Secretary General of that alliance, who met Putin 9 times and says that Putin even discussed joining Nato at one point in their conversations.

We ask him whether Putin has changed or whether he and the West completely miscalculated what the Russian leader was up to.

Sources: AP Archive, CNBC

Produced by: Freya Pickford and Nina Hodgson 

For the past few days, young and old, Britons and beyond, David Beckham too, have descended on London to join what must be the world’s longest queue. The line to file past Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second’s body as she lies in state at Westminster Hall.

At one point, the queue reached capacity, it was five miles long and the wait was 14 hours and so for several hours no one could join the queue. So they formed a queue for the queue. When queuing resumed, the wait was even longer, 24 hours. 

This feels novel and baffling, but it is incredibly British.

In today’s episode, Kiran braves the long queue himself and tells us what it’s like to stand in the longest queue in the world.

Producer: Freya Pickford

On Wednesday, the body of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will travel in a public procession from Buckingham Palace to Westminster Hall, carried on a gun carriage, with King Charles leading the procession behind his mother’s coffin, which will be draped in the Royal Standard.

Once in Westminster Hall, the coffin, topped with the Imperial State Crown, orb and sceptre, will lie in state for four days, with each corner guarded 24-hours-a-day by soldiers from units that serve the Royal Household.

When the Queen Mother lay in state two decades ago, thousands lined to view her coffin. Many more mourners are expected to pay their last respects to our longest reigning monarch before the funeral on Monday.

In this episode of the Fourcast we speak to our presenter, Cathy Newman, who broke the news of the Queen's death on Channel 4. We look back on the historic days we have witnessed since and ahead to a new era under King Charles.

Sources: AP

Producer: Freya Pickford

This was a day we knew would come, but which somehow remained inconceivable. The Queen, the only monarch most of us have ever known, has died at 96. 

Today, we will hear from some of the many tributes from around the world, as we enter a period of historic mourning for our monarch. And speak with the Royal Historian Ed Owens about this moment in our history, what we can learn from the past as we enter a completely new present without a Queen whose reign was historic in so many ways.

Sources: AP Archive

A nation constantly under the threat of a much larger power.

A nation with an invasion always at the back of its mind.

A nation that does have allies, but is still not sure whether those friends will help if war comes.

Taiwan, on the face of it, appears just like Ukraine.

But with tensions rising in the region because US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could make a controversial visit there this week, any future conflict would engulf the two great superpowers of this century - the US and China.

In today’s episode of the Fourcast, our International editor Lindsey Hilsum puts the current flare up into context as geopolitics comes to terms with a future where Beijing is King.

Sources: AFP News Agency, NewsNation, NowThis News

Producer: Freya Pickford

Thousands of people are jetting off on their first holiday abroad in three years, but will you actually make it to your destination? 

Cancelled flights, hour-long delays, never-ending queues -  this was not the postcard ending we were promised.

So is our travel industry in chaos?

Today, Minnie Stephenson speaks to travel journalist and international global trotter Andy Mossack  about why our airports are under the most pressure they’ve ever experienced.

Sources: ITV News, France 24, Al Jazeera

Producer: Rachel Evans