Co-operate or isolate the far right? Sweden’s election on a knife-edge

0:00Craft matters. In small ways, like how a coffee is brewed, and in not so small ways, like how your money is cared for, which is why for 160 years, UBS has elevated banking to a craft. Tailoring unique strategies that combine human expertise with the latest technologies, all happening across 24 time zones and 12 key financial hubs, with you at the heart of all UBS. Advice is outcraft. You're listening to the Globalist's first broadcast on the 11th of September, 2026 on Monaco Radio, the Globalist in association with UBS. Live from London, this is the Globalist, a very warm welcome to today's program. I'm Emma

1:13Nelson, and I'm Georgina Godwin. Coming up, Sweden goes to the polls on Sunday. Could this election bring the far right into government? Also ahead, in the next 60 minutes, why has Algeria suddenly cut all diplomatic ties with the UAE? Will we live in Dubai to explore the wider consequences for the region? Plus, we'll have a round up of urbanism news and… What we are most excited about is our two-year plan in collaboration with the city of Helsinki. How to revitalise the city centre, how to make it vibrant again. We head to the Finnish capital to hear all about Helsinki design week. Can we hear the papers and find out why your next favourite K-pop song could well be driven by the beating heart of Brazilian funk? That's all I heard here on the Globalist, live from London. Well Georgina, I must confess there's nothing more thrilling than the sound of an excited

2:15fin. I've only heard sound completely overwhelmed with its enthusiasm. I'm not waiting. That was marvelous. We'll have more from Petri and his trip to Helsinki design week a little bit. But we're back behind the microphone, Georgina Godwin and me Emma Nelson. Reunited once again. And also, we have done this off-mic now. We've had fun. I mean, it's extraordinary. So, with thanks to Fennola Swini, we actually had both of us a simultaneous morning off, which I don't think has ever happened to us. If it has, it's because one of us, other of us, is out the country. Or else. So, yeah, so we're both in London. We both had the morning off and we spent a lovely evening together with our partners and some other great friends. And we've just had such a nice time. We did and we're very grateful and long make it continue. You're listening to the Globalist of Me, Emma Nelson. And me Georgina Godwin. Let's start with having a look at the latest headlines. Now, Iran back two-three-fourths have seized the emin's strategic point of Mokka raising

3:17fears of further disruption to shipping through the Red Sea as oil prices approach $109 a barrel. Canada plans to produce millions of drones over the next two years and send a third of them to Ukraine as key faces in intensifying Russian air campaign. And the United States is marking 25 years since the September 11 attacks with commemorations taking place in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. Do you stay tuned to Monaco Radio throughout the day for more on those stories? Now Sweden votes in a general election on Sunday with the centre-left opposition narrowly ahead of Prime Minister Ulf Christensen's governing block. But the race is tightened dramatically, turning the election into a referendum on whether the far-right Sweden Democrats should enter government for the first time. Well, we're joined now from Malmö, by Bruno Kaufman, who's a global democracy correspondent for the Swiss Broadcasting Company. Bruno, great to have you back on the show. How close is the selection, would you say?

4:17Good morning, Georgina and Emma. Yes, it's very close. I mean, the polls are very frequent now and they're different kinds of polls. And it's all about the final votes. I mean, Swedes have been voting since a couple of weeks ago and about one-third of the people will still have to decide. And these are the people who make the decision finally, because in the last election there was only one-seat difference between the centre-left and the right-wing parties. So this is a very open call. Let's talk about the way that this breaks down. We have the social Democrats in Sweden as the largest party. Their leader, Magdalena Anderson, is wishing to come back. Make a comeback as Prime Minister. How is she persuading voters? She is not very well doing, you can say. She has been for a very long time just thinking that everybody dislike the right-wing parties and they do a bad job.

5:18So she has been in a way waiting just to have this election over. She doesn't want to say with whom she wants to govern. She doesn't really say what she wants to do. She just thinks that people trust her more and this is not so sure because she has not a very bad campaign. And so, Ulf Christensen has governed with the support of Sweden Democrats since 2022. He now says that he is prepared to bring them formally into government. I mean, how significant a change would that be for the country? I mean, that's significant. I mean, Ulf Christensen has many, many years, he said he would never cooperate with the Sweden Democrats and then he changed about five years ago. Now he has a government with their support and he has basically followed the program of the Sweden Democrats in many respects. And this is of course the question now that people feel that if the right-wing parties win again, then the Sweden Democrats will have even very day-to-day influence as ministers.

6:23And this is, as you have said, it's a little bit of a referendum if the Swedes are ready to this kind of party in government because the party has its roots in post-fascist neo-Nazi groups and they are really clear about their idea about what the nation of Sweden is, how foreigners should be treated. So, in the end, it will be maybe today's that a majority of Swedes doesn't really like this and that can make a decisive vote on Sunday clear. How much are the Swedes looking at what happened in Germany last week when alternative of your Deutschland took its first, you know, it enjoyed its first win in Saxony and Holt? Has that influenced things and reframed things at all? Not really. I mean, this Swedish campaign is all about domestic politics. It's all about who is governing with whom. It has been very little about foreign issues. I mean, you have to see that Sweden really changed during this last four years from being

7:26a neutral country over more than 200 years now being part of NATO. And this issue isn't an issue which is discussed because there's such a great agreement about that this threat from Russia is a threat to Sweden as well as to NATO as to the Baltic Sea and we may listen to the clip from the defence minister who is describing that how Swedes are thinking about these issues. I always lose much more sleep about not conveying that the things are risky than trying to scare monger. So, when we send out that folder in 2017, a lot of people thought that this would be people would get very worried and so forth. That hasn't been our experience. I'm much more worried about the failure of imagination that people don't understand that actually an armed attack could happen to us or to any of the allies. I don't say it's imminent or anything like that, but that building awareness I think

8:29is absolutely crucial. I think it is also clear that this is a new administration coming in from Washington. They're going to be asking a lot of tough questions to us. They're going to look at our defence investments. They're going to look at our Ukraine support and they're going to say, it's great that you're increasing your expenditures, but where are you brigades? What is your industrial output and so forth? We as Europeans also need to push and grow up and take a larger responsibility. That was Sweden's defence minister, Paul Jonsson there. He was speaking to Monaco's foreign desk team a little bit earlier. Bruno has Sweden caught up with the scale of the threat that Jonsson describes. Is the country taking up that responsibility? Absolutely. I mean, the Swedish defence budget is increasing very quickly. It has been twofold in a couple of years and it will be threefold. So the interesting thing here is that even the Sweden Democrats, the extreme right while

9:31in Germany and other places, they are having sympathies for Putin and he's here in Sweden. It's really different that they are against Russia, they are against Putin. And if there is anybody talking a little bit softly about that, they are expelled. So this is big difference, I would say, from the Sweden Democrats to the AfD in Germany. Finally, Bruno, when we're sitting down and watching all the events unfold on Sunday evening, what are the highlights, what are the pink points we should be looking at for? It will be of course two things. One, how the social democrats are doing, if they are really doing as bad as the polls are saying and that the dream about getting back to power is in a way going up into the sky or the other thing will be on the right-wing side is if the liberal party, which has been a centre party for a long time, which has been very influential for many, many years,

10:33is really losing its seats in the parliament. Because this party has been one of these parties who changed from being totally against cooperating with Sweden Democrats to being open to it. And in the polls they have done very badly for a long time and now recently they have picked up so if they get this 4%, that could make a difference if Christus on the Prime Minister can't continue or not. Bruno Kaufman, thank you very much indeed Bruno, is global democracy correspondent at the Swiss Broadcasting Company and was joining us from Malmo. This is the Globalist. The time is what 10-10am in Dubai, 7-10am here in London, you're listening to the Globalist on Monaco Radio with Emma Nelson. And Georgina Godwin, Algeria has abruptly cut diplomatic ties with one of the most powerful

11:34countries in the Gulf, the United Arab Emirates. The country's foreign minister said that there had been a series of provocative or hostile actions by Abu Dhabi and that the country had exhausted all means of preserving bilateral relations. Well Algeria and the UAE have taken different positions on several regional issues, such as the nature of any relationship with Israel, the issue of sovereignty in the decades old dispute over the western Sahara and conflicting interests in the Sahel region of Northern Africa. But what in particular has led to this point? Or to tell us more, we're drawing now on the line from Dubai by Monaco's Gulf correspondent Indomamm Rashid. Very good morning to you, Indy. Good morning Emma. So what were these provocative or hostile actions? I mean, several nations have competing interests and positions in the region, but not to the point where they've cut ties. Yeah, and I think it's actually a combination of all of them. What we have to be clear about is that Algeria hasn't specifically said what the actual reason is that they've decided to cut these diplomatic ties

12:35with the UAE. There hasn't been a formal reason as to why that is. But as you mentioned, there's a number of issues between the UAE and Algeria. Or effectively, they sit on opposite sides over many different issues. So over western Sahara, the Algeria is back that the Polissaria Independence Movement, whilst Abu Dhabi supports Morocco, sovereignty, claim, Algeria also opposes the UAE's very strong relationship that it has right now and even more so given the conflict in this region over the last six months with Israel. And it accuses the UAE of interfering in North Africa and in the Sahel regions. So this is obviously a bit of a shock because it was pretty abrupt. But this has been issues that the UAE and Algeria have faced with each other over many years. Now, the UAE says that it hopes that this kind of rupture is temporary. The presidential advisor

13:37Dr. Anwagha Ghash said that diplomacy should be based on rationality, communication, clarity and not just riddles. I think the big question here, though, Emma, is will we see other countries look to potentially sever diplomatic relations with the UAE? Will all will we see other countries, you know, look at how Algeria have gone about things and in fact maybe try and go down the same route. I think that's something that the UAE will be concerned about and will be trying to keep an eye out, particularly over the next few months, whilst this country here still is still very much in a conflict of its own. And what does severing diplomatic ties mean in real terms? How does this actually work? Well, it's trade. It's cutting off airline routes. That's something that Algeria has said is by the end of 2026, there will be no routes between the UAE and Algeria. And of course, economic ties as well. I don't think it will go as far as any terms of sanctions,

14:41but I think there will be a huge diplomatic tension between the UAE and Algeria. There already was and that will go further. But economically and in terms of trade, there will also be major issues between the two countries. And I think the UAE, as they said in their statement, they confirmed their commitment to relations with all countries in support of the interests of peoples. That was the headline of the foreign ministry statement that was put out yesterday. I think the UAE will want to try and nip this in the bud as soon as possible. I don't think the trade matter is an issue for them, but it's more how this looks on the outside. This is all optics for the UAE and they don't want to be seen as a country that effectively has had to force another country to cut diplomatic ties with them. In that context, who is going to come out worse here? I mean, when you look at the scary, if you look at Algerian, you look at the UAE and the face of it, it looks like the Algeria could come out worse here. Yes, potentially. I guess the

15:46big question is the trade element, how much does then the UAE respond now and completely cut off trade with Algeria as a result of Algeria now seeing their severing diplomatic ties, because around $962 million worth of exports went to Algeria back in 2023. That's increased significantly. A lot of that is down to cars. There is oil as well. There are a number of flights that go through Dubai, the UAE, between Algeria, and there are in fact a number of Algerians in the UAE. And so there will be a big question as to how those people are treated whether they will be visa renewals for Algerians we've seen in the past when diplomatic ties between the UAE and other countries have been cut temporarily. Then we've seen a blockage in visas for a number of people as well. So that might mean that many Algerians can't get work out here in Dubai and some

16:47of the other Emirates. So yes, very much so. Algeria could be shooting themselves in the foot here by cutting these diplomatic ties, but clearly they feel that the number of issues that the two countries have with each other, it felt now as the time to cut these relations. And maybe this could just be a temporary situation until they get to some form of agreement with a face-to-face diplomatic You mentioned the fear of contagion from other nations. Where else might the diplomatic fault lines be? Who else is at risk of following Algeria? Yeah and that's an interesting question, Julian, because it's hard to to put the UAE to one side. It's such a critical country in the whole of the Gulf when it comes to trade when it comes to financial deals as well. Just now we see the UAE leader in Germany on a huge state visit, they just announced 40 billion euros of new investment into Germany. But there are

17:53countries who are increasingly getting frustrated with the UAE and particularly their ties with Israel. So you have the likes of Pakistan who have obviously drawn concerns with the UAE particularly over the last few months as well. They're not necessarily taking a side, but they've given an inkling as to who they will support in the future and who they will have stronger diplomatic ties with when we get out of this conflict here in the region. And so I wouldn't be surprised if there will be other countries like Pakistan, perhaps other African nations as well, who will look closely at the relationship with UAE and how that looks going forward, particularly which camp the UAE decides to go in when they try and get out of the conflict that they're currently in between Israel and Iran. In Ziyamund, I just ask you about various other things that are happening this week. We know that the Arabian travel market is about to start, but also

18:56Monaco's media summit takes place in Dubai later in the week. Just give us a quick heads up on that. Yes, so just currently up at the 24th floor of Jameera Emirates Tower is looking down at all the traffic here in Dubai. And I have to say it is picked up massively over the last couple of weeks. And that also gives us a sense when we see the event season and there are so many events, I think there's around 80 events or something in the next three months here in Dubai alone. And two of those are Arabian travel market, one which starts on Monday and this is huge. It's less than a kind of a tourism showcase this year in a bit more of a recovery summit, given what we've gone through over the last six and a half months. And I was speaking yesterday to the Dubai tourism chief. And he said he feels that this is probably the most important one yet in this travel market history. And Emirates Airlines were also telling me when I put to them how they will win back passengers who have maybe left the airline and gone to more kind of Asian airlines like Singapore Airways.

19:59And they said well they'll use ATM as a bit of a catalyst to win back those passengers. So that will be huge and I think it will be important for Dubai. And then yes, the Arab media summit is the largest media summit in the region. Monaco Radio will be there, will be broadcasting live. Our colleague Andrew Mulla will join me and the wider team and we'll get loads of amazing guest information ministers from across the Gulf. We'll get some ministers here in the UAE. And we'll really talk about the role that the media plays when it comes to a conflict in a country which, you know, at times maybe has a bit of media censorship. But as a journalist who's basic, I'll be able to give a bit of insight into what it's been like reporting from this country, which has been in the middle of a war. And I very much look forward to hearing that, Enzy, thank you. That's Inseman Rashid, Monaco's Gulf correspondent in Dubai. Now still to come on the programme. Buckle up ladies and gentlemen, we'll find out why K-pop has gone all in for Brazil. Stay tuned to

21:04the Globalist. Craft is a matter of perspective, a unique outlook, an obsessive attention to detail. With UBS's Chief Investment Office House View, we're focused on identifying the latest investment opportunities and market risks to help you achieve your financial goals. So you get the big picture broken down into thought-provoking insights, delivered daily and curated by over 200 globally connected, locally active analysts. UBS banking is outcrafed. 21 minutes past seven you're listening to the Globalist on Monaco Radio with Amanelson and Meet Georgina Godwin and we'll continue now with today's newspapers. Joining us here in the studio is Freddie Fulston, who's a journalist at Bloomberg and the Times. He's a new paper review, fresh blood for us. Excellent, good morning. Before we sink our claws in, how did we find you? Tell us a little bit about yourself.

22:05Well, so I'm a freelance journalist at Bloomberg and the Times and I actually just reached out directly because you're a listener. Because I'm a listener of the Globalist, the briefing, the whole Shabang you've got here. So we have a fan. Do you have a fan? I mean, presumably even stars that you like. Let's see how the paper review goes. Let's jump in. Yeah, let's start actually with this story you've chosen. This is about Russia co-ursing migrants to fight. So there's quite a lot of coverages. Politico's talking about it. France 24 is talking about it. There were big articles in the Sunday papers talking particularly about people from Africa being taken. They just tell us what is the detail on this? So in terms of the detail, Amnesty International have put out this report saying that Russia is illegally trafficking an increasing number of foreigners to fight in Ukraine. I mean, they are, I mean, the key thing here is they're trying to fill a vast troop shortage. Half a million Russians haven't been killed according to Western intelligence estimates so far

23:07an extraordinary number. A thousand being recruited every day. And this report is showing that they are now targeting people from low income countries. Usually people who are under 40 younger men to go and fight on false pretenses. Pretty much saying if you come to Russia, we can offer you some sort of civilian job such as truck driving. But then as soon as they arrive in Russia, people from Somalia, Sierra Leone, Lower income countries, they're being taken, you know, having their passport taken and then shipped to the front line. So it's also, it's a very sad story anyway, but really, really important in terms of Russian troop numbers. And the human stories coming through about this, as you say, that they're promised another job, they're told that they're going to be accountants in Poland or something. Taken to Russia, passport's taken away, given uniforms locked up, then shipped to the front lines and according to some people, forced to walk in front of Russian soldiers across minefields. I mean, they are seen as completely dispensable.

24:08I mean, completely dispensable. And you know, war trafficking, human trafficking is most importantly, illegal under international law. And that's something that's really important to remember here. They're not just cannon fodder. These are humans being shifted out illegally. And it's absolutely tragic what's happening. And I think it's really down to the lethality of the conflict, which is increasing. The number of troops they're having to bring in now because of lethal AI drone innovations. And such, you've got this 20 mile kill zone on the battlefield where Russians are just being wiped out more and more easily by Ukrainian troops. I mean, Ukrainians do have the same troop shortfall problems as well. It must be said. But they're not resorting to slavery. But they're not resorting to slavery. They are by no means resorting to the same tactics. Let's move on to the story. A migration of an entirely different nature. This idea that for the last few years, there's been quite a lot of talk about London becoming less attractive to international wealthy workers.

25:12It is now becoming the case that it's the Brits who are going to. I mean, being able to find places not just like the Frankfurt and the Berlin and the Parisians of this world. But they are now choosing slightly new and fresh destinations such as Greece. Yeah. And it's perhaps one to bear in mind for your jet set, monochrome radio listeners. But yes, Londoners in particular are resorting to leaving the capital essentially because of the, what they see is sort of high tax environment. They're going to countries like Greece. So this is really rather a new one which is offering tax exemptions, tax exemptions on overseas income in particular, income that you earn overseas. It's not the first to do it. I mean, Milan have had what's called an empty London drive, actually actively targeting London and pulling people away with also various flat taxes and various incentives to move. And I think it's interesting because people are moving for tax

26:15efficiency rather than perhaps for lifestyle. I think Greece might be quite a good idea. I think it would be a good idea. Not just the tax attractions there. Yeah, yeah. I mean, certainly the weather. I mean, we've got autumn coming up, but you know, there's some fantastic things. Culture in London, the heritage, the theatre season, if that's what you're into, many, many reasons to stay as well. Again, culture's not bad in Greece. Yeah, that's true. I mean, It's been around for a while. Why see a Greek play when you keep me, you know, why don't see a Greek play? Just, let's continue the discussion about tax, though, and tourists because tourism tax in Europe is becoming a much bigger thing and it's a nice little owner. It is. I mean, especially for cities like Rome earning up to 200 million a year from this. And that's all money that can be invested straight back into local amenities and to cleaning up the city and making the city actually more appealing to tourists. So like you said, some countries have had particular success with this Italy Venice.

27:17It hasn't quite solved the overtourism problem, but certainly, like I say, that money has been successfully reinvested. And it's something that the UK is now looking at as well. It's something that Edinburgh has been doing for a while. I mean, they've had a 5% levee on overnight stays. And that's, again, that money can be feeded back into cleaning the streets and things like that. However, some people saying, you know, it's just making staying actually that extra expense is really hitting them. I mean, one example on the BBC, the Scottish Ballet, we're saying they have to pay 200,000 just to tour their staff around Edinburgh, their team of 150 performers and actually that extra 5% levee really hitting certain customers and guests in that way. So. Freddie, thank you very much indeed for joining us in the studio. That was Freddie Fullston freelance journalist at Bloomberg and the Times bringing us a paper review you're listening to the globalist.

28:22Now here's what else we're keeping an eye on today. Iran-backed hoothy forces have seized Yemen's strategic Red Sea Port of Mocha and advanced towards the Bab El Mandab straight, a vital route for global trade. The escalation has intensified fears over energy supplies and pushed oil prices close to $109 a barrel. Canada plans to produce millions of drones over the next two years and send a third of them to Ukraine. Prime Minister Mark Carney has also announced $254 million in air defence equipment during President Vladimir Zelensky's visit. And the United States is marking the 25th anniversary of the September 11th attacks in which nearly 3,000 people were killed. Memorial ceremonies are taking place at the sites in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. This is the globalist. Stay tuned.

29:22Next on the programme we head to Helsinki with the city's design week alongside the annual Habitare furniture fair showcases the latest and greatest unfinished design. It's a 10-day event that attracts well over 100,000 visitors and beyond showcasing Nordic design and architecture encourages people to think about how design can improve our lives and our cities. Monaco's Petri Byrdsoff sent us this report. In its 21st year, Helsinki design week has grown into a citywide festival that takes over the Finnish capital for 10 days, attracting well over 100,000 visitors. When you hear the word design week, you're probably thinking about exhibitions and product launches. Helsinki design week has those, of course, but it's also about something more. It looks at design in all of its forms and the role that design plays and can play in shaping our cities. This year, the focus was on the

30:28role design can play in making cities more vibrant and livable, as the festival's founder, Garikor van, explains. What we are most excited about is our two-year plan in collaboration with the City of Helsinki, how to revitalise the city centre, how to make it vibrant again, because this is something that most of the cities around the world are struggling with because of the e-commerce and because of the remote work. We have a plan and this is really exciting. And let me guess it involves design. It's a lot of it does, at least design thinking, because how we in Helsinki design week define design, it's not so much product related, that's how it started. But today, of course, we are talking about services, but we are talking about mainly how to be challenges, how to solve problems through design thinking.

31:32These are love to goals and as such, they risk turning an event like this into an academic workshop rather than something with a sense of occasion and excitement. But Helsinki design week is so much more going on. It's popular design market, through local design levels, looking for good deals on everything from furniture to fashion. At the same time, an event series called Design Diplomacy, so embassies from various countries, open their doors to the public and showcase interesting designers from their respective nations. When you visit Helsinki during design week, the event is impossible to miss. Occupying the city's busy waterfront was a giant seven meter tall model of the famous Alvarato Ves built in cooperation by the Finnish Heritage Brand Itala and the Norwegian aluminium producer Hydro. Here is Hydro's Jagabnilsen. When you walk up to the pavilion from a

32:34distance, we are at the harbor front here. It's quite monumental. Everyone who knows about aluminium from before, we have made lots of friends in the design industry all over Europe. Everyone who knows about aluminium was the, oh, this is aluminium. They will immediately make the connection. What is the future doing with that and with the Itala? Which is pretty cool. So basically we're trying to be present in the industry. Obviously we're marketing aluminium as a material. We think it's a good material for loads of things including construction pieces like this. Equally popular and thought provoking was the Futura House in the city's botanical garden, which was probably the most photographed object at this year's Helsinki Design Week. Futura is a futuristic housing model by Finnish architect Matdisurinen designed in 1968 that looks essentially like a UFO that has landed on Earth. American architectural heritage expert

33:37Jan van Dys built a modern version using long-lost original drawings while the Finnish fashion brand Marimekko took charge of the interiors, which became a showcase for the brand's new collections designed by Danish textile artist Vipekharoland and Finnish fashion designer Rolf Eikruth. Here's Marimekko's creative director Rebecca Bay. When creating the interior of a house like this, it is a conceptual abstract exercise. It's not a real house. We will not be living in the house. But we really wanted to sort of speak to the future of living. So instead of being focused on what is traditional living today, we wanted to propose, I think, a vision for living, a vision where we can downscale, we live with less, but we live with what's important to us. So we really also reached out to some of the people we have worked with previously or some of the people we wanted to work with, so Inke Bell for her artworks, Kukapoto lamps, because they created for a domed ceiling. So it really gave us all the opportunity to sort of reach out and say, do you want to be part of this future vision?

34:46Taking place alongside Helsinki Design Week was Finland's key furniture in the interior design fair Habitare, which attracted well over 40,000 visitors. It showcased the latest and greatest in Finnish design from popular brands such as Nikari, Hacola, Finarte, Sektor Design and Barney. It is a consumer-focused fair where local families come to buy furniture, and it is very important to local brands such as the wooden furniture make it Tebian as the founder Te Polakonini explains. For me, I think this is the most important event of the year because this is only time when I, because I don't have any shop or my furniture, you just can see the pictures on my website, Debian.fi. So this is the only place where people can come to touch it and feel it and see it. So it's yes, we sell and we sell a lot here. But as with Helsinki Design Week, Habitare also went beyond just launching new furniture, as the events creatively by the hell under explains.

35:47We have been pushing that couple of past years that we want to be in real dialogue with the industry, with the young designers and also sense what is in the air and we want to create prototyping and that kind of things that everything doesn't need to be finished. And I think something really important in this year is that we have the idea of imperfectness and accidents and coincidences and things like that that kind of create creativity. If you have only finalized things, it's not so exciting maybe and we want to also give surprises to the audience that are really like love to come here every year that they have some novelties always. Both Habitare and Helsinki Design Week celebrate and showcase great design. But they also want visitors to think about the role of design in our lives in making our cities better and our planet more livable. For Monaco in Helsinki, I'm Petri Bordsoff.

37:00Thank you, Petri. You're listening to Monaco Radio. It's time now for an urbanism roundup with Monaco's contributing editor in Edmonton, Shina Rosita. She's a hello to you. Hello. Shina, you're in Edmonton as I said and cities, particularly where you are, are still struggling to get people back downtown. Why does this matter? Yeah, well here in North America, it's much different than Europe. So just to start out, our cities are so much more card dependent and probably with the only real exception in North America being New York City. So cities across the continent are just really struggling to get people downtown because of access to downtown and people just want to take a step back and I just want to give you a bigger picture of why we need more people to get

38:02downtown. We need more people to get downtown in cities because typically that's where a lot of your tax base for city budgets comes from also known as property taxes. It comes from downtown from those commercial properties, which are typically located in these city centers. So put simply cities need people working, living and playing downtown. But in North America, they've really struggled to reactivate the course so to speak to get that pre-COVID foot traffic back and with work from home measures, downtowns have really suffered quite a bit. Shina, it's Emma. So just tell us what cities have been trying to do to fix this? Well, in the province of Ontario, which is Canada's most populous province, workers who do work for the provincial government have been ordered back to the office. And that's an attempt to help stimulate the economy and especially the country's largest city, Toronto. Other cities, regions and companies have been trying to adopt these same measures. We've

39:06heard the famous thoughts from JP Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Diamond and his complete anti-work from home thoughts. Now back to my point that a lot of American cities are card-dependent. So one mayor in Canada's capital, Ottawa, I should say a mayoral candidate has suggested that making all street parking free in cities downtown will be one of the reasons that will help get people back downtown. This is an idea from a candidate named Alex Lawson, whose campaign promises to make the street parking free in the city's core. Lawson rolled out this policy idea last week saying that the difference between what cities collect in parking fees and the costs to remain, the existing system is essentially negligible. And do you think that idea would work? Well, some critics have said that this would actually create more hurdles for drivers and not help businesses at all. So according to Marco Melusovic, who's the chair of Strong Towns Ottawa,

40:14which is a local nonprofit that advocates for better city planning, he said it would actually create more losses. So let's just look at this here. Paid parking in Ottawa like most cities, it typically exists in high demand areas that will only increase if these parking fees are eliminated and that's going to leave drivers traveling farther to park and causing more pollution, noise, and danger on the road. So on street parking spaces so far, they generate about $9.8 million last year in Ottawa with $7.4 million going towards costs of covering things like snow clearing, something that's essential in a winter city like Ottawa. And that wouldn't exist if you didn't have those parking spots that you're charging for if you were offering it for free. So the idea of having free street parking would actually be kind of backwards to help people get downtown. This is all well and good, but there is no clear sign at the moment that anybody, especially in

41:18the United States, is thinking of abandoning the car and making things less dependent on the four-unnorthwater wheels. Oh, absolutely not. You know, a lot of in recent times, especially I would say pre-Trump two-term in office, a lot of cities were trying to implement active modes of transportation. That's still very much the case, such as walking, biking, running, even taking e-scooters, not to mention public transport. This was part of the really big push from the Paris Climate Accord, as we know, 196 countries agreed to these measures to hold temperatures, two degrees Celsius, no more than two degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. So we know now that we've blown through these measures. And in the US, we've seen a big reversal under the Trimp Administration with cars being associated with more with masculinity. That was really on front and center this past weekend in Washington, DC, when you saw freedom, doesn't ring,

42:21it revs. That was a tagline for the Indy Car Race that took place in Washington, DC. And as we're seeing with Trump in his second term, especially getting rid of EV mandates and having reverse other active transport and environmentally friendly ones, you don't really see that changing anytime soon. And in Canada as well, you don't see that happening as much as well. For example, recently in Ontario, the provincial government took the city of Toronto to court to get rid of bike lanes to bring them back to cars and they won. So we don't really see cars being exhausted here so to speak in North America that's still the primary mode of transportation. Monaco is contributing editor and Edmonton Chino Rossiter. Thank you so much for joining us on the line. You're listening to the Globalist on Monaco Radio with Emma Nelson and Georgina Godwin. IQ, EQ and AI. Three components key to the craft of innovation at UBS. Because to stay

43:24ahead in a rapidly evolving age, you need a partner with decades of experience, endless passion for the work and a finger on the pulse of leading technologies, bridging human expertise with artificial intelligence, all to elevate you. UBS banking is our craft. Today marks the 25 year anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 attack on America. But instead of a day of remembrance, it has at least in part become focused as so many things are these days on Donald Trump. Well, we'll have more on the 9-11 anniversary on the Monaco Daily tonight. But for a look at what we learned this week and starting off with Trump's comments on that anniversary, his Andrew Mulla. We learned this week who the real hero was 25 years ago today amid

44:28the fear, chaos and grief of the United States darkest hour. I was building a big building in New York and I took the whole crew down there right after this happened and they had no hesitation. Everybody went down with me. We went down as a big group of people. Do go on. We had other buildings. The United States steel building was creaking, really creaking. Now we thought it was going to fall down. The truth is it creaked a lot. It creaked. It's still creaks. Well, they want to get that looked at. I'll never forget two firemen. We thought it was coming down on top of us in two firemen. Big strong guys. And I'm not the smallest guy in the world. They grabbed me under the arms. They got to get out of here and they literally lifted me up. This is not easy to do. I'm big. They lifted me up and they started running with me. I said, fellas, I can run myself. We learned in fairness as we occasionally do that it's sometimes difficult not to be impressed by US President Donald Trump's willingness indeed eagerness to talk the most astonishing bollocks before the least appropriate audience. I.e. it's not just that none of this happened.

45:34It's that he was telling the story to a crowd of actual emergency workers who actually responded to the dreadful events of September 11th, 2001, on which we did not learn but already knew. Trump was actually chiefly preoccupied with this startling enhancement of his real estate portfolio. Well, it was an amazing phone call. I made 40 Wall Street actually was the second tallest building in downtown Manhattan. And it was actually before the World Trade Center was the tallest. And then when they built the World Trade Center became known as the second tallest. And now it's the tallest. Although and with due acknowledgement that fact checking Trump is an exercise in futility, akin to reciting the meditations of Marcus Aurelius to a recently disturbed wasps nest, even that wasn't true. Trump's 40 Wall Street was in 2001 and is today 7 meters shorter than 70 Pine Street. So there. But we learned that this was not the only disputable claim the President would make

46:36this week. And we learned this from the Republican Party's exciting new midterm convention, an innovation at least as necessary as Antlers on a space suit. Only I can make this promise to you. And here is my promise. If the Republicans win the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, both of them, I will issue a dividend to every adult citizen in the United States of America for $5,000. But we learned that it is unfair to exclusively mock the United States for its susceptibility to snake oil purveyors wearing the kind of suits usually favored by the proprietors of the kind of kayak, garrisoned by big inflatable humanoid figures with wavy arms. We learned that anything the Americans can do, the British can do, if on a much lower budget. And we learned this from the party conference of Reform UK, present vehicle of absentee, clackton, MP Nigel Farage, and a party which had until relatively

47:36recently been topping opinion polls. We are playing this annoying 1966 novelty hit not merely as a commentary upon the general psychological equilibrium of Reform UK conference attendees, but because it was recorded by Jerry Samuels, aka Napoleon the 14th, seriously this whole thing is about to fall together seamlessly. Right, we learned from this conclave of the keenest minds in British blood and soil seething that whatever the insufferable metropolitan elites may sneer from their ivory towers in between slurps of soy latte, this is a party with its thumb firmly on the pulse of the median British voter. Should the last French emperor and first president should the body be returned to France? We're going to have a proper debate about that too. We are well aware that Nigel Farage was not actually declaring Reform UK policy as such merely

48:40responding to a silly question at a press conference, and that therefore this is all a pretty cheap jpeg on our part, but we don't care because trust us there is an absolutely belting punchline close at hand. Indeed we would at this time earnestly counsel lacing yourself into some sort of trust to prevent your sides from literally splitting. We learned, or at least so mightest, for the purposes of teeing this payoff up, that Farage's interest in repatriating Napoleon the third, that he may enjoy the rest of his eternal rest back home, may be related to the generally tolerant attitude of France's second empire towards Farage's own French Protestant forebears. Because in politics, it's not what you know, but who you know? For Molecule Radio, I'm Andrew Muller.

49:44Andrew, thank you very much indeed. You're listening to the globalist on Molecule Radio. Now what could topple the crown of K-pop when it comes to popularity in South Korea? Well if we are to look at the way music is going, it could be from Brazil. Brazilian funk is having a moment with several superstar artists incorporating the rhythms and explosive precautions into their songs to add a touch of secret sauce. Have a listen to this. My body, I need a tip out you know, I'm touched my body, I need a perfect paradise. I'm touched my body, I need a tip out you know, I'm touched my body, I need a perfect paradise. Emma's top dance, so that was that what was that called? Bloody Paradise. And wasn't it just? As sung by the K-pop superstars, Enhypen. Well in a moment we're going to cross to

50:49Seoul to find out what all the fuss is about because neither Emma nor I can understand it. But let's get the thought of Monaco's music curator, Fernando Augusto Piseco. Brazilian funk in K-pop. Well if I may say it's the perfect combination, it's no surprise that Brazilians are big fans of the genre. In fact Brazilians are the fifth country that consumes K-pop worldwide according to Spotify. There's something about the two music styles that just mingle so well. It's about the punch electronic drums of Brazilian funk and the efficient hooks of K-pop. Brazilian funk is an exciting music style. It's fresh and it is one of the most influential rhythms in the international charts today. Everyone wants a little taste of it. It's catchy, bouncy, you literally can't stay still while listening to it.

51:57Some of our top artists in Brazil have worked with Korean artists, a match made in heaven. Here is lovely Anita with Boyband TXT. Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, Bob, I know what you like. Our Brazil's drag queen Pablo Vittar with girl group Anne Mix. This is a cultural collaboration I'm signing up for. From Monaco, I'm Fernando Augusto Piseco. Look at you now, run you down, have to sit up. Thank you for that blast of something, Fernando Augusto Piseco. To tell us more about this incredible fusion, we're joined now from Los Angeles by Benny Cho, who's president of the sole-based K-pop agency DF, SB Collective, and a regular here on Monaco Radio. A very good morning to you, Benny. Always good to be back. Good to have you. Now, we're not just talking about a direct challenge to K-pop's crown here. We're just talking about a fresh sound.

52:58Absolutely. Right now, when people listen to K-pop anywhere, anytime in the world, they recognize different elements, whether it's rock, electronic, hip hop, but now more and more. A bit of that Brazilian funk and that Brazilian spice is making its way into a lot of the biggest and arguably best K-pop hits. What's fascinating is it's not just a creative decision, it's also very much a commercial decision as well. So, why is K-pop and Brazilian funk such a natural fit, Bernie? Well, before we take a dive forward, we need to take a slight step back. Whether it's social media, followers or subscribers, but more importantly, audio and video streaming of K-pop globally, it turns out South Korea, the home of K-pop, is not even the number one market. If it's anything, it's number four. Over 90% of followers and streaming is from outside of Korea and one of the top markets is actually Brazil. That's extraordinary. So, I mean, Brazilians are listening to K-pop more

54:03than Koreans are. Where are the other top markets, Bernie? Well, right now, the United States is near the top. Japan has historically been near the top, but also a few surprises. Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and even Vietnam are quickly rising. But what's really fascinating is Latin America has become one of the most thriving markets for K-pop. If we just look at BTS and Adidas and looked at the numbers on streaming, Brazil was number two behind the US for the new BTS album. And then more importantly on YouTube, Brazil was not only number three and number one for Latin American countries, but four Latin American countries were the most YouTube watching, YouTube liking, YouTube viewing K-pop fans, or I should say BTS fans. And so this is something that no one can ignore. Do we know why this is the case? Because on first listen, you actually think that maybe a more cynical ear might suggest that this is K-pop trying to build upon the likes of

55:10bad bunny, not Brazilian, but of the Latin American genre. Possibly maybe, but from what I've hear and from what I've seen and more importantly from my experience so far is that K-pop is always looking for the next big thing to stay relevant and stay fresh. And right now, just globally, Brazilian music is not just Brazilian music, but more importantly, Brazilian music artists are very much on the up and up. And so it doesn't come as a surprise that some Brazilian artists want to collaborate with K-pop artists, but more importantly K-pop artists wanting to do more with not just Brazilian music, but Brazilian music artists. And now more importantly, the Brazilian music market, because right now it has emerged and has become one of the biggest markets for K-pop acts whenever they go on world tours. I wonder if this is a safe way to allow the sort of clean cut K-pop stars to play it being naughty boys. Or naughty girls. I think one of the really interesting things about this sort of trend and phenomena is that what we're starting to see is in many ways more Asian

56:17music fans who are into K-pop are now beginning to learn more and more about Brazilian music. And obviously vice versa, a lot of Brazilian music fans, I think are appreciative of the fact that K-pop artists are not necessarily culturally appropriating, but very much influence inspired, integrating, interpolating, and just making Brazilian music a little bit more international as well. But just speaking, just going back to the sort of the characterization, the good thing about K-pop is that the stars themselves are incredibly clean-cut and very, very well-behaved. When you look at the videos now, if you just look at N-Hype and Bloody Paradise, that track we had a minute ago, I mean handcuffs are there. Well, I think that was probably put in there so that people like you and we can talk about it. As much as the song is great, the video is obviously very compelling as well. And I think that playing a little risqué is probably something that it's, although it feels a little bit controversial, it still plays within a lot of safety guardrails and perhaps maybe guidelines as well.

57:22You know, we can talk about sort of fitting together musically, beautifully and all the rest of it, but is this also just a very cynical, bottom-line driven decision? You can see the markets great in Brazil, so just mash the two up. And your cleanup, is that where it comes from? You know, I think that it, you know, obviously some people might be a little bit cynical, but for me, I see this as very much part of the sort of evolution and reinvention reboot, more importantly pivoting of K-pop, because as it's becoming more global, it's very apparent that not just the artists, but the singers, and more importantly, the songwriters and producers are going wider, farther deeper in terms of their sort of inspiration pool. And the fact that as K-pop is going more global, they're taking on more global inspirations and ideas. So for me, it just feels a bit more of a natural extension on K-pop, you know, trying to spread its popularity to not just new markets, but emerging markets as well. Bernie, I feel we have but 10 seconds to answer

58:26this question. If you had never dipped your toe into this, what's your entry-level K-pop Brazilian funk track that we should all be listening to? Well, I think right now, and again, you kind of alluded to it already, is you got to not just listen to it, but you got to watch the song from A-T's. They have gone extremely viral with not just the audio, but more importantly, the visuals. And the particular sort of dance move that A-T's has going on is just lighting up all the social media's intro. Bernie, thank you so much. We've got to rush off to go and listen to that immediately, don't we? Absolutely, I have it on somewhere. That's all that time we have for today's program. The warm and so thanks to all our guests and to the producers Thomas Waterhouse Chris Chairmact, Tom Webb. Our researcher was in Kayleigh Martin and our studio manager was Kristi O'Grady, with Editing Assistance by Maria LeBervin and Steph Chungou. I'm Georgina Godrin and I'm Emma Nelson. Goodbye. Thank you for listening. Have a great weekend.

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