On this programme, we discussed the ongoing war in the Middle East. US President Donald Trump has declared again that the war is "close to over" after hinting at a second round of face-to-face talks with Iran in Pakistan in the coming days. On the other front, Israel and Lebanon held rare, direct talks in Washington. The International Monetary Fund has earlier warned that any further escalation of the conflict in the Middle East could plunge the global economy into recession.

Next, we talked to the head of the Hong Kong Professional Airline Pilots Association about the latest cancellation of flights announced by Cathay Pacific, as a result of the ongoing war in the Gulf region.

And finally, a health official updated us on the HIV-AIDS situation in the city.

9:05am-9:30am: Failure of US-Iran talks

Speakers:

Einar Tangen, Senior Fellow at Centre for International Governance and Chairman of Asia Narratives

James Dorsey, Adjunct Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University

9:32am-9:47am: Flight cancellations due to increased fuel costs

Speaker:

Steven Cheung, Chairman of the Hong Kong Professional Airline Pilots' Association

9:47am-10:00am: The latest HIV/AIDS situation in Hong Kong

Speaker:

Dr Bonnie Wong, Consultant for the Centre for Health Protection at the Department of Health