The Fourcast

The European Union has had many different names but it’s always had one goal: a united, peaceful Europe.

That has usually meant closer political and economic ties.

But for some it has also meant getting closer on defence and security and for some that in turn has meant the creation, one day, of a united European army.

So has the war in Ukraine shifted the dial towards a European army?

In today’s episode with Elisabeth Braw, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute think tank, talks us through the history as well as the pros and cons of any future united army for the EU.

Sources: EuroNews, France 24, Newsnight, Sky News

Produced by: Joe Lord-Jones

Other than the smog we can see it’s sometimes impossible to visualise what some call the ‘invisible killer’.

Channel 4 News was shown new modelling which suggests the majority of UK households are in areas which break the World Health Organization's own guidelines on dangerous air pollution levels.

In today’s episode, we speak to reporter Keme Nzerem who originally broke this story, about the politics of air pollution, why it’s damaging to our health and its links with poverty.

Producer: Freya Pickford

Ecuador has become the new frontline in an escalating drug war.

And ordinary people are the ones paying the price as the country’s murder rate doubledlast year.

Rival drug cartels have taken over Ecuador’s largest city, Guayaquil, in a bid to control lucrative new drug routes to Europe and the United States.

Our reporter, Guillermo Galdos, visited the once peaceful city for Unreported World, and spent two weeks with the local police, who are now outgunned and outnumbered.

Today, Krishnan talks to Guillermo about what has driven Ecuador to become a major player in this bloody turf war and what can be done to stop it.

Warning: this episode contains content some may find disturbing.

Sources: CGTN

Produced by: Rachel Evans

More than 1 million people in the UK are on Hormone Replacement Therapy or HRT and the vast majority of them are women who need it to deal with menopause symptoms. 

But a shortage of specific types of HRT has left women struggling. In this episode of The Fourcast we speak to Kate who had a hysterectomy at 44 which caused her to go into surgical menopause about what life is like with and without HRT.

We also speak to our Health and Social Care Editor, Victoria MacDonald about why, as demand for prescriptions has more than doubled since 2017, supply of some products has not kept up. 

If you have been affected by the issues raised in this report, help and support is available at channel4.com/support.

Sources: Channel 4: Davina McCall: Sex, Myths and the Menopause and Davina McCall: Sex, Mind and the Menopause

Produced by: Nina Hodgson

It’s the news that was everywhere for one day and then sort of faded away. A bit like a viral tweet you might say, it dominated, and then we just scrolled on.

Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, reached a deal to buy Twitter.

The right were happy, the left were mad. And Twitter was the perfect place for everyone to sound off.

But the deal isn’t done and there’s still a long way to go.

We talk to our Washington Correspondent, Siobhan Kennedy, about who exactly is the man behind this mega takeover. We also talk to the former head of news at Twitter, Vivian Schiller, about free speech, the law and social media.

Sources: Sky News, TED, Fox News, CNN

Produced by: Freya Pickford

Giving your second-hand clothes to a charity shop or recycling centre is surely a good thing, isn’t it?

Well some of those items, which eventually end up abroad, are causing an environmental disaster in West Africa. 

Slums and beaches are overflowing with clothes from countries such as the UK that can’t be sold. 

And this is affecting everything from the livelihoods of the traders to the seafood eaten across the entire west coast of Africa.

Today, Krishnan speaks to reporter Ashionye Ogene, who has been to Ghana for Unreported World to see first-hand how the West’s addiction to fast fashion is destroying livelihoods as well as leaving a mark on the country’s landscape for hundreds of years to come. 

Producer: Rachel Evans

Sources: ITV News, CBS News

As the war in Ukraine enters its third month and Russia begins the new phase of its invasion, where does this all end? Or moreover, where is it heading?

Russia says it's focusing on the east and south, but why the missile strikes in Odessa?

And what does Russia want now and what can it even get, given that the Ukrainians feel emboldened as the Western powers increase their support?

Today, our international editor Lindsey Hilsum reports from eastern Ukraine as she unpicks the messaging and the military movements in the war.

Sources: AP 

Produced by: Nina Hodgson

Inflation is at a 30-year high right now, and it could go even higher.

Prices were going up even before the war in Ukraine and so now the forecasts are even worse, not helped by parts of China shutting down as a new wave of Covid there takes over.

It’s all pretty gloomy, and the International Monetary Fund says the world must brace itself for an economic slowdown and a potential wave of social unrest.

In today’s episode of The Fourcast, our Business and Global Trade Correspondent Paul McNamara explains how inflation is impacting farmers and businesses and how high prices are passed onto us. And whether there is anything governments can do in this perfect storm of an economic crisis. 

Sources: Sky News

Thailand has gone Crypto crazy. Just last year investing in Crypto currencies increased four-fold in the country.

Ordinary people are jumping on the Crypto bandwagon to try and make money fast. But the world of traditional finance is wary of this new technology as some really do risk it all and lose it all.

Jonathan Miller was in Thailand for Unreported World to meet a new generation of innovators tearing up the rule book. 

Today, we’ll discuss if this 21st century temple to the future of money is an example to be followed across the world or whether real regulation and protections are needed to stop people from potentially getting hurt.

Sources: BBC News 

Producer: Rachel Evans

A close, contested election. Weeks of uncertainty. An election that some felt wasn’t legitimate. A Supreme Court divided and politicised. A new president that some felt wasn’t the true winner. 

Not 2020 and beyond, but 2000 in America.

Andrew Rice, the author of “The Year That Broke America”, unpicks 12 months that will live in infamy - and when everything came down to Florida.

Produced by: Nina Hodgson

Sources: CNN, CBS News, ITN Archive