Having just wrapped up the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the climate and environment ministers of the G20 will fly to Brazil to prepare for another major meeting. They will seek to lay the groundwork for their next summit in Rio de Janeiro on November 18th-19th—an event that coincides with COP29, the United Nations climate conference, in Azerbaijan.

That gives ministers several long-distance flights to mull the environmental priorities laid down by Brazil, which has the G20 presidency, such as strengthening responses to extreme weather events and creating mechanisms to pay for “ecosystem services” (such as the carbon sequestered by the Amazon rainforest). Brazil’s environmentally-minded president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, is determined not to let other concerns get in the way. That includes war. In New York he argued that the money needed to fight climate change should be taken from the more than $2trn that the world’s militaries spend each year.

As central bankers cut interest rates, mortgages are becoming cheaper. Data due on Thursday are expected to show that the rate on a fixed, 30-year mortgage in America is down by more than 1.5 percentage points from its ten-year peak of 7.8% in October 2023. But that doesn’t mean housing is getting cheaper. House prices are rising by roughly 5% a year.

There is reason to believe that house prices will continue to drift upwards, and not just in America. Housebuilding remains extremely weak by historical standards, limiting new supply. Despite the hype over working from home, cities are back, with a large share of new jobs being created in urban centres. And high levels of immigration to the rich world are stoking demand. There are ups and downs, of course. But nothing seems able to stop the global housing juggernaut.

October 3rd, the Day of German Unity, is a celebratory moment for a country cleaved in two until 1990. But a controversial “peace demonstration” in Berlin on Thursday may spoil the day for some. The event will attract Germans sceptical about their government’s military support for Ukraine, as well as its recent agreement to host long-range American missiles. The participation of MPs from Germany’s ruling Social Democrats has upset Ukraine-backers; some worry that the country’s most important European ally could waver.

The march will be modest by historical standards: an expected turnout of 25,000 is a far cry from the million-plus who filled West German streets in the peace marches of the 1980s. But it will be a reminder that not all Germans are pro-Ukraine. One of the event’s stars will be Sahra Wagenknecht, leader of a new “left-conservative” party that in recent state elections in Germany’s east campaigned hard against aid for Ukraine—and is now heading for government there.

Delhi’s annual battle with pollution is becoming a real fight. Earlier this year officials deployed “anti-smog” guns to clear the air, which gets especially filthy in winter. But India’s Supreme Court thinks that the Commission for Air Quality Management, a pollution-control agency launched in 2021, is not doing enough—last week judges said it had turned a blind eye to farmers burning stubble, contributing to poor air quality. On Thursday the CAQM will file its response to the court.

Since the rebuke, the agency has deployed “flying squads” to curb fires at farms in Haryana, a neighbouring state, and Punjab, next door but one. But the CAQM ’s mandate to co-ordinate the work of various agencies has become hostage to local politics. The Aam Aadmi Party, which runs Delhi and Punjab, has long clashed with the Bharatiya Janata Party, which governs Haryana. State elections in Haryana later this week will only make the rivalry more acute.

Can anyone stop Australia? In women’s Twenty20 cricket, Australia have been utterly dominant, winning six of the eight World Cups since the tournament began in 2009. The 2024 event begins on Thursday in the UAE, to which it moved because of political unrest in Bangladesh.

Australia are again a strong side, featuring Alyssa Healy as captain and Ellyse Perry, an all-rounder. Grace Harris adds the power to the middle order and Darcie Brown bowls at express pace. Spin-bowlers Sophie Molineux and Georgia Wareham should also prosper on pitches that will turn.

England and India will try to knock down Australia. England have Sophie Ecclestone, the world’s best spinner, but their aggressive batting is a risky approach in unfamiliar conditions. This could be India’s time . They have never won the competition but they have a calm captain in Harmanpreet Kaur, explosive batting from Jemimah Rodrigues and an abundance of spin bowling.