麻豆社

Standard & Poors has stripped Brazil of its investment-grade credit rating. It is an indignity for a country trying to regain market trust and pull itself out of recession. The downgrade is also a major setback for President Dilma Rousseff as she tries to kick-start the economy.

Queen Elizabeth has become Britain's longest reigning monarch - surpassing her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria's 63 years and seven months on the throne. Royal historian professor Kate Williams of the University of Reading talks about the relative economic, social and diplomatic merits of the two eras. We also look at the impact of the Royal family on the UK's tourism industry.

And, Apple unveiled its latest products - a larger iPad tablet, a TV box with its own app store and new iPhones that can detect how firmly their screens are being pressed.

All this and more discussed with our guests on either side of the Pacific - Jonathan Cheng of the Wall Street Journal in Seoul, and Catherine Hoke, CEO and founder of Defy Ventures, in New York.

(Photo: Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. Credit: AFP/Getty Images)