It's sometimes called a forgotten war: fighting in Yemen has killed hundreds of thousands of people. Hunger has claimed even more lives, while 4.5 million Yemenis are internally displaced. Yet the complex conflict between Saudi-led forces and Houthi rebels doesn't always make headlines. This September, nine years after the Houthis attacked the capital Sanaa, triggering Saudi Arabia's intervention, the country is not in the grips of all-out war, but it's still not at peace either.

With the EU voting on new air quality rules, satellite data shows that 98% of people face pollution above limits recommended by the World Health Organization.

Talking Europe hosts Pascal Lamy, co-ordinator of the Jacques Delors institutes, and a distinguished former head of the World Trade Organization and former EU Trade Commissioner. We discuss great power competition in today's world; the EU’s influence when it comes to global trade and regulation; the critical importance of Africa to Europe; and climate adaptation in the light of Lamy’s role as a member of the Climate Overshoot Commission.

Since the start of the fighting mid-April in Sudan, some areas have been completely cut off. As a result, people have been sending hand written messages to loved ones delivered by taxi drivers. Also, a series of attacks in Mali: a military camp has been attacked a day after more than 60 people are killed in two seperate assaults. And the economic fallout of the coup in Niger: sanctions also impact neighbouring country, Nigeria. We hear from some traders in Kano.

The recent announcement of a US-backed rail and shipping project linking India with the Middle East and Europe is seen as a challenge to Beijing's "Belt and Road Initiative."

Beijing has called a European Commission probe into Chinese electric vehicle subsidies, a "naked protectionist act."

Climate change is partly responsible for the floods that have devastated Libya but the legacy of civil war, political chaos and corruption have exacerbated their impact. Observers say aid is desperately needed.

The European auto industry has raised concern about a wave of cheap, new electric vehicles from China hitting the EU market soon. There are calls for imposing punitive tariffs.

Enlargement of the European Union was one of the priorities outlined by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in her State of the Union speech on September 13th, and it is likely to become an ever more pressing issue over the next few years. After the speech, Talking Europe sat down with the EU Commissioner in charge of neighbourhood and enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi. He is a distinguished Hungarian diplomat and lawyer. He served as Hungary's ambassador to the EU, and has held prominent positions at the Hungarian ministry of justice and ministry of foreign affairs.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, Armenia and Azerbaijan have been fighting for control of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region, which is mainly populated by Armenians but internationally recognised as lying within Azerbaijan's borders. A particularly bloody conflict in 2020 enabled Baku to recover a large part of the territory. Both countries have been accused of committing war crimes over the years.

Zelenskyy's visit comes as many conservative Republicans are growing skeptical of US aid to Ukraine. Kyiv has been heavily reliant on weapons assistance from the West as it staves off Russia's invasion.

Syrian President Bashar Assad is due to meet with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. China has long provided diplomatic support to Assad's regime, and could play a role in reconstructing war-battered Syria.