Talks of life: can Israel and Lebanon find peace?

<p>After six weeks of <a href="https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2026/04/14/why-israel-continues-to-batter-lebanon?utm_campaign=a.io&amp;utm_medium=audio.podcast.np&amp;utm_source=theintelligence&amp;utm_content=discovery.content.anonymous.tr_shownotes_na-na_article&amp;utm_term=sa.listeners" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Israel’s offensive</a> against Hizbullah, Lebanon’s president and Israel’s prime minister are due to talk today. What can they achieve? Britain’s “triple lock” pensions are unsustainable. And Uzbekistan’s footballers prepare for the World Cup.</p><p>Vote for The Economist at the Webby Awards: “<a href="https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/podcasts/individual-episode/history" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Last Boat</a>” podcast, <a href="https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/video-film/series-channels/news-politics" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">TikTok channel</a> and <a href="https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2026/video-film/series-channels/animation" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">language</a> series.&nbsp;</p><br /><p>Guests and host:</p><ul><li>Anshel Pfeffer, Israel correspondent</li><li>Josh Roberts, capital markets correspondent</li><li>Jon Fasman, senior culture correspondent</li><li>Rosie Blau, host of “The Intelligence”</li></ul><p><br /></p><p>Topics covered:&nbsp;</p><ul><li>Israel, Lebanon, Hizbullah, Netanyahu</li><li>State pension, Britain, triple lock, inflation</li><li>World Cup, Uzbekistan</li></ul><p><br /></p><p><em>Listen to what matters most, from global politics and business to science and technology—</em><a href="https://subscribenow.economist.com/podcasts-plus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Subscribe to Economist Podcasts+</em></a></p><br /><p><em>For more information about how to access Economist Podcasts+, please visit our </em><a href="https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/What-is-Economist-Podcasts" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>FAQs page</em></a><em> or watch </em><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gczo71bg1uY" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>our video</em></a><em> explaining how to link your account.&nbsp;</em></p><br /><p><br /></p><hr /><p style="color: grey; font-size: 0.75em;"> Hosted on Acast. See <a href="https://acast.com/privacy" rel="noopener noreferrer" style="color: grey;" target="_blank">acast.com/privacy</a> for more information.</p>