麻豆约拍

Fresh talks to overcome political turmoil in Italy are being held. Lorenzo Fioramonti is a Five Star Movement member of parliament, and gives us the latest on the negotiations. Also in the programme, around a million bank workers in India have been striking over pay. The 麻豆约拍's Sameer Hashmi explains the background to the disruption. With the price of oil doubling over the past two years, our regular US economic commentator, Irwin Stelzer of the Hudson Institute, tells us why the cost of crude oil has been rising. In South Africa there has been a mixed reception to the passing of a new minimum wage law. We get the trade union perspective from Matthew Parkes, parliamentary co-ordinator for the Congress of South African Trade Unions in Capetown. Plus we head to Freetown in Sierra Leone, to meet fashion designer Mary Ann Kaikai, who's proving a hit with some of the world's biggest retailers.

(Picture: Italian PM-designate Carlo Cottarelli. Picture credit: EPA.)