Two weeks out from the US midterm elections, there's bipartisan pushback against data centres that suck the water and power out of communities. Just two years ago, ChatGPT was still a brand-new thing, and AI was admired with awe by most voters. Like in 2024, the hot-button issue in swing constituencies remains inflation, or "the price of eggs". But anxiety over the end of the month is now coupled with anxiety over the end of the world.

Can a flick of a switch really be enough for Donald Trump and Elon Musk to end Ukraine's hopes of holding out against Russia? With Kyiv already reeling from daily strikes by Russia's new motor-powered drones, the US decision to slow SpaceX's Starlink service was felt immediately on Wednesday, when air raid warnings failed.

François Picard is pleased to welcome Petros Konstantinidis, a financial journalist for Greece's leading daily newspaper TA NEA. The current controversy surrounding the US ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, has all the makings of a reality TV show or a telenovela, or both. "This is diplomacy under Trump turning into lifestyle diplomacy," Konstantinidis explains.

François Picard is pleased to welcome Sandrine Ageorges-Skinner, an advocate against the death penalty, author and member of the association "Ensemble contre la peine de mort" (Together Against the Death Penalty). She asserts that capital punishment is "really a political agenda, especially in electoral times."

Do voters care about attempted coups? Brazil's Flavio Bolsonaro is on the cusp of unseating Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the country's October 25 presidential runoff. Bolsonaro's father was jailed over the Brazilian version of the January 6 storming of the US Capitol. Up and down the ballot, other Bolsonaros have been elected in the first round as the far right surges. Is it about incumbent fatigue? Do Brazilians subscribe to Bolsonaro's "God, Homeland, Family" mantra?