Saturday’s missile strike on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh was the deadliest attack on Saudi Arabia since the US and Israel’s war on Iran began in February. By bringing the conflict to the heart of Saudi Arabia, Houthi rebels are hoping to inflict economic damage on the kingdom, which is in the midst of an ambitious programme to diversify away from oil. How effective has the Houthi campaign been so far? How will Saudi’s allies, including the US, Turkey and Pakistan, react to this danger? And why are the Houthis so hard to defeat? Gideon speaks to Emile Hokayem of the International Institute for Strategic Studies. Clip: BBC News

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Further reading:

Military briefing: Houthis expose limits of Saudi Arabia’s vast arsenal

Houthi assault on Saudi airports strikes at MBS’s economic vision

Houthis attack Saudi Aramco headquarters

Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. The senior producer was Laurence Knight. Sound design is by Samantha Giovinco and Breen Turner.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Flávio Bolsonaro took a clear lead in the first round of Brazil’s presidential election, and is the favourite to assume power after a run-off against the incumbent, Lula Ignacio da Silva, later this month. Will Flávio, who is the son of imprisoned former president Jair Bolsonaro, follow his father’s playbook, by cosying up to Trump and slashing environmental regulations – or will he follow a more moderate path? Gideon speaks to Oliver Stuenkel, a professor at the Getulio Vargas Foundation in Brazil and fellow with the Carnegie Endowment in Washington, to find out how a Bolsonaro victory would change Brazil. They discuss Brazil’s relations with the US, China, and its Latin American neighbours: and they examine why whoever wins the Brazilian election is unlikely to have a long honeymoon period. Clips: APT

Subscribe to Gideon’s show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.

Further reading:

Brazil’s Bolsonaro dynasty closes in on stunning comeback

Brazil’s Bolsonaro comeback exposes Lula’s weakness

Brazil’s markets surge as investors bet on Flávio Bolsonaro election win

Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa. Sound design is by Sean McGarrity

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

High-profile AI safety incidents, as well as warnings from industry figures about AI’s rapid progress, have stoked a new wave of fear about the future of humanity. Artificial intelligence systems are becoming more and more capable. Can we regulate this technology effectively – or is it too late to put the AI genie back in the bottle? Gideon speaks to Toby Ord, senior researcher at Oxford university’s AI Governance Institute, and author of ‘The Precipice: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity.’

Clip: C-Span

Subscribe to Gideon’s show on Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen.

Further reading:

Anthropic warns of ‘existential risks to humanity’ in IPO prospectus

Why the AI race has its creators fearing human extinction

Donald Trump praises tech bosses’ ‘self-regulation’ of AI

Presented by Gideon Rachman. Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval.

The executive producer is Manuela Saragosa.

Sound design is by Samantha Giovinco and Breen Turner.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.