Erstellt am: 18. 12. 2013 - 15:38 Uhr

Towards EU banking union?

Reality Check: EU talks on banking union; Obama's Sochi message to Putin; South Sudan unravels; remembering the Vietnam war.

A Banking Deal for the EU

Eurozone finance ministers are taking further steps with plans to create a banking union. The aim is to set up an agency, a set of procedures to keep an eye on banks and tackle problems on an EU level, rather than leaving "bad banks" to individual member countries. If it all comes together it will be the EU's largest project since the introduction of the Euro. The first piece of the puzzle - how to make sure there is money to pay for shutting down ailing banks, has been agreed. Rainer Löw in Brussels explains how it works and what still has to be decided:

Sochi

President Obama has named veteran tennis star Billie Jean King as one of two openly gay athletes in the US delegation for the opening and closing ceremonies of the Sochi Winter Olympics. Obama himself will not be attending. It looks like a pretty clear signal to President Putin, who has come under criticism for his anti-gay policies. Shashank Joshi talks about this and the wider international political ramifications surrounding the Sochi games:

South Sudan

After the joy of independence in 2011, events in the world's newest country have taken a turn for the worse. Fighting in South Sudan has claimed up to 500 lives in recent days according to the UN. Chris Cummins reports:

50 years since the start of the Vietnam War

In the US, events have begun to mark the 50th anniversary although it is difficult to say when the Vietnam War exactly started. Our Rome correspondent, David Willey, was a young reporter for the BBC in Saigon back in those days. He shares with us his memories of covering this conflict and the differences in war reporting then and now:

FM4 Reality Check

Monday to Friday from 12.00 to 14.00, and after the show via Podcast or fm4.orf.at/realitycheck.