HARDtalk's Sarah Montague speaks to Seth Freedman, former Black Cube employee. He freely admits to being a spy. Not for any government but for the private investigators Black Cube. It's one of the companies Harvey Weinstein hired to investigate his accusers. Seth Freedman posed as a journalist to gather information for Mr. Weinstein and says he was just doing his job. And that someone has to do it. But do they? And who polices this billion dollar shadowy world of private intelligence?

Though the fear of imminent war has receded, the Middle East has been profoundly destabilised by the American assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. The unfolding US-Iran conflict will impact the whole region, not least Iraq, where the Iranians are intent on hastening the end of America's military presence. Stephen Sackur interviews Douglas Silliman, former US ambassador to Iraq until a year ago. Does Trump have a strategy, if so, what is it?

Stephen Sackur speaks to Vali Nasr, US foreign policy scholar and sometime adviser to the State Department. The fallout from America's assassination of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani appears to be over.

HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur speaks to Eliot Higgins, founder of the open source investigations website Bellingcat. Eliot Higgins thinks he can piece together complex truths from digital fragments sifted from the worldwide web.

Sarah Montague interviews journalist Ronan Farrow, who won a Pulitzer prize for his investigation of Harvey Weinstein. His revelations prompted an outpouring of rage at the way women had been treated, and triggered the MeToo movement.

HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur speaks to film director Ken Loach. For many film makers and film goers movies are about escapism and entertainment - look at the listings in your local cinema and you'll see what I mean. But not so for Ken Loach, one of the most lauded and durable directors in the UK film industry. He's made twenty seven films, he's won the biggest prize at Cannes twice.

HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur speaks to Zohrab Mnatsakanyan, Armenia's Foreign Minister. Armenia is a small state with outsize strategic significance in a Caucasus region beset with tension and hostility. Last year popular protests delivered a so-called velvet revolution which saw a new government installed in Yerevan amid ambitious talk of reform. Is Armenia looking east or west for political and economic inspiration.

HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur speaks to Alfred Bosch, Catalan Minister for Foreign Action. Since Spain's highest court sentenced nine pro-independence politicians to a collective one hundred years in prison there have been mass, sometimes violent protests across the region which has left hundreds injured. Madrid says there can be no political dialogue until Catalan politicians condemn the violence and rein in the militants. Where does the pro-independence movement go from here?

John Letts and Sally Lane are the parents of an Islamic State militant, British born Jack Letts. He left the UK to live in the IS Caliphate. He's had his British citizenship revoked and his parents have been convicted under UK anti-terror laws.

Stephen Sackur interviews Katharine Gun. In 2003 she worked at the UK's signals intelligence agency GCHQ. She leaked potentially explosive information about America's covert effort to sway UN diplomats to support the Iraq war.

The Turkish Foreign Minister, Mevlut Cavusoglu, talks exclusively to HARDtalk's Zeinab Badawi in Ankara. Turkey has been condemned for its offensive in northern Syria, but it says it will press on with its operations to flush out what it describes as Kurdish terrorists.

HARDtalk's Stephen Sackur speaks to Alan Semo, UK Representative, Kurdish Democratic Union Party. Donald Trump's decision to pull US troops out of northern Syria has prompted a Turkish military invasion of territory held by Syria's Kurds. The Kurds are now looking to President Assad for military help. The region, once a playground for so-called Islamic State, has been plunged back into chaos. What are his people's options now?

Brexit represents a political gamble played for the highest of stakes. If Britain leaves the EU without a deal there will be significant economic disruption, even the most ardent Brexiteers acknowledge that. But they believe the potential rewards justify the risk. Stephen Sackur speaks to Stuart Wheeler, a successful businessman and lifelong gambler who backed his commitment to Brexit with plenty of his own cash. Has his money given him undue influence over Britain's future?

Stephen Sackur speaks to the singer/songwriter Brett Anderson. His band Suede was hailed as the future of rock and roll back in the early 1990s. Today they are still making music a generation after Britpop ceased.

Stephen Sackur speaks to Jessye Norman, who is acknowledged as one of the greatest singers of her generation. She was born in America's segregated South with a talent that transcended barriers. Has her success helped to tear those barriers down?

The Internet was trumpeted as the tech tool to deliver us a golden age of knowledge, freedom and democracy. Now we're in a darker, more cynical place. The digital revolution has generated fears about lost privacy, mass surveillance and systemic misinformation. Stephen Sackur speaks to the President of Microsoft, Brad Smith, about we can ensure our astonishing technological advances are harnessed for good, not harm.

Sackur speaks to Anthony Scaramucci, the White House Director of Communications for all of eleven days before he was fired in a media firestorm in 2017.

It is tempting to ask what almost two decades of American intervention in Afghanistan have achieved. Even now, the death toll in the Afghan conflict far outstrips the losses in Syria and Yemen. But the grim statistics tell only a part of Afghanistan's story. Stephen Sackur speaks to Kimberley Motley, an American lawyer who went to Kabul in a training capacity and stayed to become a respected litigator fighting for the rights of the abused and the powerless.

Newsmakers, personalities from sports and entertainment.

Stephen Sackur interviews Anson Chan, who was the chief secretary of Hong Kong.

Stephen Sackur interviews French MEP and former Europe Minister Nathalie Loiseau.

U.S.-targeted nightly newscast.

Foreign correspondents in London look at UK events through outsiders' eyes.

The latest business and financial headlines with analysis and speculation.

Internet and new media technology.

A look at global business stories.

A look at the news that will shape the business day.

A more in-depth daily coverage news with a focus on Europe, Middle East and Africa.